


The meaning of Love

by xenamoi



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Getting Together, M/M, Post-Kingdom Hearts III, There's not enough RokuVen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:54:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23503456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xenamoi/pseuds/xenamoi
Summary: Roxas and Ventus. Identical, yet not the same. They bonded on the first mission they did together, and later became inseparable friends. And, after that… Roxas felt new feelings he hadn’t imagined possible.
Relationships: Roxas/Ventus (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 80
Kudos: 40





	1. The mission

“So, did you ever go to Disney Town? If you didn’t, you really should try one day. It’s a pretty cool place, and there is a ton of things to –”

“Ven, we are on a mission. Focus.”

“Aw, come on. It’s not a bit of small talk that is going to jeopardize it.”

“You need to stay on your guard. At any moment, enemies could attack.”

“Talking doesn’t mean we cannot stay alert, you know.”

“Maybe. But if we’re busy having a chit-chat, we cannot bring our full attention to the mission. We are here for recon, remember. We need to carefully examine our surroundings, make a mental map of the area, note anything valuable or out of the ordinary, analyze the place we are in. We have work to do.”

“Roxas. We are in a forest in the middle of nowhere.”

Roxas sighed. Did his companion really not understand how missions work? He expected more from someone who had received formal training. Their first mission together definitively didn’t have a great start.

“That’s not a reason to relax,” he said. “We need to be in the mindset. To always be ready.”

Ven didn’t look very happy. “We are in a forest in the middle of nowhere,” he repeated. “Walking towards a city we have caught the sight of on top of the hill, to gather information there. We literally have nothing else to do but talk.”

Roxas also didn’t look very happy. But, while Ven was looking a bit sad, the other blond’s unhappiness came from annoyance.

“And I tell you that we are on a _mission_. It’s not a vacation, we’re not here to blabber around.”

“But the whole point of pairing people who don’t know each other for these missions was so that we could form bonds. So that we could learn about each other. Do you distrust Master Yen Sid?”

“You know very well this was Sora’s idea.”

“But Master Yen Sid agreed with the reasoning, didn’t he? Don’t you think this is something he’d want us to do?”

“No, I don’t think so,” snapped Roxas. “The point is to facilitate teamwork. Not to have a cozy heart-to-heart moment.”

“Roxas…”

Ventus understood that arguing further was useless, his friend was too stubborn. So he stopped talking, and they now walked together in an awkward silence. This definitively wasn’t how Ven was imagining this mission to go.

He was a bit surprised at Roxas’s attitude, he seemed to be someone kind in their previous interactions. Sure, they hadn’t talked much, but in the few days after the end of the war, everyone took some time together to learn about the others’ stories, and Ven had taken the opportunity to talk with all of his new friends. His discussion with Roxas was sometimes a bit awkward, especially when they had to bring their shared physical appearance, but went overall pretty well. So, seeing him cold like that wasn’t something Ven expected. Their first mission together definitively didn’t have a great start.

After a moment that felt like an eternity, they finally reached the town they had noticed earlier. It didn’t look very advanced technologically, but this was still a real city, full of buildings and people. It clearly was an important population center in the area. The two identical boys entered, with a goal in mind: gathering clues about the Heartless presence on this world.

“Excuse me sir!”

“ _Ventuswhatareyoudoing,_ ” muttered Roxas in a breath. Why was Ven directly approaching the townsfolk? Didn’t he at least know that when arriving in inhabited place, the first order of business was not getting noticed, and instead looking around and gathering as much information as possible? Only after that, and after having understood the local customs, did it become remotely viable to have an interaction with the inhabitants, if necessary.

“What do you want, boy?” patronizingly answered a middle-aged man in sober but elegant vestments. _Looks like someone powerful_ , thought Roxas. _And Ven likely pissed him off, coming at him out of nowhere. Greaaaat._

Ven winced at being called “boy”, but pursued. “We are travelers who just arrived in town, and we would like to know exactly where we are, if you don’t mind telling us.”

“Travelers? You are just kids,” sneered the gentleman. He was about to dismiss the conversation, but then noticed the strange clothing the two boys were wearing. _Maybe they really are travelers_ , he thought. _Maybe they are sent by their parents to gather information while they try to find a place to stay._

“But I will indulge you. You are walking in the great city of Vaeolya.” He paused for a second. “It is surprising you didn’t recognize the unique architecture.”

“The unique architecture?” repeated Ven, incredulous. The architecture didn’t look like anything fancy.

_Ugh, Ven, if he tells you it’s unique, it’s unique. You’re only making yourself more suspicious._ But since, by Ven’s fault, they were in this together, Roxas figured he had to step in to help.

“Told you it was Vaeolya. But you never listen.”

Thankfully, Ven got the clue. “I figured there was no harm in asking. And please don’t interrupt me when I’m talking to someone, it’s rude.”

In the meantime, the well-dressed man was taking a good look at them. “So, where are you two coming from? I like to pride myself in my knowledge of the world, but I… cannot tell.”

“Oh, we travel the world, you see,” answered Ven. “And, just before coming here, we were crossing the forest, for we were on the other –”

“You came from the forest??” interrupted the man. “Don’t you know it is dangerous?”

“Dangerous? We had no trouble when we were inside. Did it start getting dangerous recently?”

The man looked at them incredulously, then his expression became neutral again. “Right, right, if you were traveling on foot from the other side, you wouldn’t have heard… But, for a week now, strange sightings have been made in the forest, especially at night…”

He started getting closer and talking more confidentially. “They say that there are dark creatures with yellow eyes, attacking everything that lives… Of course it is only rumors, if you want my humble opinion I’d just say the wolves are particularly agitated… But you never are too cautious…”

“Dark creatures with yellow eyes at night?” repeated Ven on the same confidential tone. “If it’s real, I am glad we didn’t run into them…”

Ven did a quick glance towards Roxas, and slightly tilted his head in the opposite direction of the man they were talking with. Roxas immediately understood what his teammate wanted.

“We have to go now.” That way, Ven would have an excuse to end the conversation.

“Already? Thank you for your time sir. The information you have provided us is useful, and we are grateful for that.”

_They may be weird kids, but they know respect. It is always appreciable in our current society where values are being lost._ “You are welcome, of course. Have a nice stay in Vaeolya.”

The man then left, leaving Ven and Roxas behind. They moved to be out of earshot from the passersby.

“Well,” declared Ven, “we have all we need. We wait until night, we go in the forest, we follow the trail of Heartless and we see where they are hiding. If there’s not much of them, we clean up, if there’s a lot, we retreat and warn the others. And then, mission accomplished.” He looked quite satisfied.

“Are you mad?” answered his companion.

“Huh?”

“Why did you – Why did you just go and talk to the first person coming?”

“Didn’t we… Didn’t we come here to do just that?” Ven didn’t understand what Roxas was angry about.

“You just don’t come around in a random city and ask people like that. You come, you gather information, you learn the customs, you select the most likely person to give you information, you… you don’t just rush and talk!”

“But wasn’t ‘rushing and talking’ effective? We know now exactly what we needed to.”

“Yeah, and it was handled so well,” quipped Roxas. “The architecture?”

“Okay, okay, that was my mistake. But thankfully, I had a friend to save my stupid ass. Right?”

Ven had a huge smile, that quickly faltered once he saw his friend wasn’t reciprocating it.

Roxas was trying to keep his calm. “Ok, look, what is done is done, it went pretty well, we have the information, alright. Just, don’t repeat that in the future. We need to not appear suspicious.”

“Because a ‘traveler’ that takes two hours exploring town before asking where they are is not suspicious?”

Roxas paused to consider Ven’s point. And quickly dismissed it. He _knew_ how to handle missions, he did it all his life.

“Let’s just explore town for now.”

“Okay.” Ven was happy to drop the subject. Confrontation was not his thing.

But exploring town was not exactly what the blond teen had imagined. He thought they’d just walk around and see how it looks like, but Roxas was taking them to inspect each corner, to take notes on everything and everyone, to draw plans of areas, to ponder on the importance of each person. And oftentimes, he’d snap at Ven for “slacking” and not taking this seriously.

Ven didn’t like confrontation. But Ven was human, and didn’t have unlimited patience.

“What’s _wrong_ with you???” he eventually bellowed, after one angry remark too many.

“Wh-what?” Roxas was clearly taken aback.

Ven lowered his voice to not be heard, but anger was still present in his voice. “How is _any_ of this useful in helping us locate the Heartless presence in this world? Weren’t you the one to tell to only focus on the mission, nothing else?”

“Yes but… but… but isn’t this how recon is made?”

“Recon about _what_? How is determining that the city council and the trade guilds are in conflict over a tax raise of 3.5% useful in helping us to locate the Heartless presence in this world? How is trying to date the construction of the bridges useful in helping us to locate the Heartless presence in this world? How is figuring out which places are crowded at which hours useful in helping us to locate the Heartless presence in this world? You don’t look like you are trying to get rid of the Heartless, you look like you are prepping a coup to disrupt the world order.”

“…what are you even – I’m just – I’m just doing what recon missions are! What they always are!”

“What they always are? Who _told you_ that?”

“‘Who told me that’? What do you mean, ‘who told me that’? I’ve – it’s –”

Oh. _Oh. **Oh.**_

Suddenly, Roxas realized. He realized. He realized what he had been doing. He realized why he was being so easily angered. He realized why he – did he really say these things to Ven?

He looked away from Ven, his head down, shame on his face. And all the anger that could have built up in the other blond teen suddenly washed away at this sight.

“It’s… the Organization.”

Roxas was pained to notice that the Organization’s conditioning had left marks on him. He was dragged back in the old days, back when he had to leave with the others to do recon on the other worlds. Back when not exclusively focusing on the mission was punishment.

_You look like you are prepping a coup to disrupt the world order._

Now that he thought about it, a lot of the information the Organization sought was for that, huh? He paused to think. The tax raise dispute, they’d have used that to have leverage in pitting people one against another. The construction date of bridges, to see which one was the easiest to blow up. The time where the crowd moved between places, to know where to strike in populated areas – or where to hide when it was time to be unnoticed.

_What’s wrong with you???_

Everything. Everything was wrong with him. He thought he had moved on, but he still was _their_ thing after all. He still was…

“Are you okay?”

Roxas got back to reality. He noticed Ven having caught him; he guessed the shock must have made it hard to stand still. He noticed the face full of worry of the one he had spent all his time belittling on their journey here. He felt so incredibly guilty. He couldn’t stand to look at him. He didn’t feel worthy, after realizing how he had behaved. So, he got up again, and backed away.

“I…” Roxas couldn’t find the words. And, on Ven’s face, there was… a smile?

“Nice to see you, Roxas.” Ven extended a hand.

Roxas teared up a bit. “Nice to see you, Ven.” He shook his hand. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” softly said the other boy. “It’s not your fault. You’re not responsible for what happened to you in your past.”

This time, it was Ven who looked away. “If anything, it’s mine. I have listened to everyone, I know on a high level what was your life until now. I should have realized sooner, instead of lashing on you like that. It… didn’t feel good. You’re my friend, I don’t want to hurt you. I’m sorry.”

Roxas chuckled a bit. “I… kinda searched for it. You’re fine, really. If you were acting as jerky as I was back then I’d have punched you.”

The blond-haired teens laughed together.

“Okay, but seriously,” said Roxas, “how do you _do_ recon missions?”

“Well, I’ve always been told to act natural. The closer to the truth you are, the less lies you have to make. And weaving together a web of lies, well… it tends to fall apart.”

“Oh, I see. So that’s why you just approached that guy for questioning.”

“Yep. Thanks for having had my back with the architecture blunder by the way.”

“That was _really_ stupid.”

“I _am_ really stupid. Sometimes.”

They laughed again. Then they looked at the sky.

“Looks like it won’t be night for a few other hours,” stated Ven.

“Yeah,” answered his friend, who then paused. “So… what about that Disney Town?”

*********

The sky was totally dark, the light of the stars being unable to make its way through the dense forest. In that darkness, two blond-haired teenagers were walking with caution, searching for something.

“Do you see them?” whispered one of them.

“No, nothing on my side. You?” answered the other, their voice as low as was possible.

“Nothing too. Let’s go a bit deeper.”

After a few minutes of a slow and careful walk, they noticed something moving in a bush. Both froze solid, and summoned their Keyblades, to be ready for battle.

And Keyblades are formidable tools to attract the Heartless.

From all sides, tens of Shadows appeared, and jumped simultaneously on the Keyblade wielders. Despite their numbers, they were no match for the experienced guardians, and were quickly dispatched. Still, so many of them while they had only reached the outer perimeter of their location was unexpected. Roxas and Ven knew they _really_ had to be on their guard.

They resumed their slow walk. The epicenter of the infestation must be near.

“There! A grotto!”

Roxas showed to Ven a large cavity on their left. It reeked of the smell of darkness. The source of the infestation was there.

“Alright, let’s see how bad it is…”

They entered the grotto. It was even darker than the outside. But, they both were light magic users, so dissipating the darkness was not a problem.

They walked deeper, deeper and deeper. They felt uneasy, but they kept going.

And then they saw it. The core of the infestation. A large cavity, filled with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of Heartless, mainly Neoshadows but there were many different kinds.

“Whoa, this is _bad_ ,” gasped Ven.

Roxas stayed silent, and was trying to assess the situation to the best of his ability.

“Huh, Roxas?”

“Yes?”

“You’re the one with the most experience with Heartless around here, so… what are the red ones with small legs over there? I haven’t encountered them in missions yet.”

“Detonators. They’ll walk to you, and have this _huge_ explosion, one you don’t want to get caught in. You can use Blizzard magic to stop them from detonating.” He paused. “But here, I’d not do that.”

“Why not?”

“You see how this place is _crowded_? I’d bait them into pursuing me, then get away, and let them explode and take down their allies.”

“So, you’d be using the Heartless against themselves?”

“Beats having to fight them yourself.” Roxas offered a weary smile.

“Anyway,” said Ven, “now we know where they are and how bad it is. We just have to go back to the Tower and mission accomplished.”

“But our orders were to do the cleaning if it looked reasonable, right?”

“Roxas, are you _seriously_ considering taking on these numbers?”

“I’ve done an assessment of the room, doesn’t look that bad actually. It can be handled.”

“But –”

“Just stay here. Everything will be fine.”

“Roxas!”

Roxas jumped down, Oathkeeper and Oblivion in hand, ready to take down the scourge haunting this world. He tore down through dozens and dozens, with precise gestures that were learned by doing this over and over and over. It nearly was all muscle memory at this point. The Heartless had barely any opportunity to mount any offensive against this fury of blades.

“Roxas! Don’t be an idiot! Come out of here!” begged his friend.

Ven couldn’t say he wasn’t impressed. Roxas was being so fluid, so elegant, so powerful. He was destroying wave of Neoshadows after wave of Neoshadows, like they were nothing. And, as he talked about earlier, he was using the Detonators to do huge damage to the Heartless ranks, throwing them to Heartless that were longer to take down, like the Large Bodies and the Defenders. There was something amazing, something _cool_ , about how he was doing all this. But it was also suicidal.

Roxas started to grow anxious. From his initial assessment, he should have taken away at least half of them by now. But the room still looked as full as when he started. _Where were they coming from?_

“Roxas!!”

He narrowly avoided the fireball launched by a nearby Red Nocturne. His reflexes were slowing down. He was starting to get tired. But there was no way he’d stop. If he retreated, if he just went back to the tower and reported what he saw, then they’d simply send a cleaning crew down here, and they would still fail to consider him for who he really was. They’d keep sending him on easy missions. He knew they were worried about him, he knew that he lacked proper training, but he felt like they were not taking him seriously. He’d prove them all wrong, right there, right now.

The room still was as crowded as when he first came.

“Stop killing yourself! Come here!”

“…I can’t do that, Ven.”

“…then. If you will not come… I will.”

“Ven! No!”

Ventus jumped in the vast mass of Heartless, and started fighting his way to Roxas.

“What are you doing?” yelled Roxas.

“What are _you_ doing? I’m not letting a friend die here.”

“It’s way too dangerous here! I can barely handle them, I –”

“So you’re babying me now?”

Roxas stopped arguing. _Am I doing the same thing with him that they are doing with me?_

“…then let’s finish this.”

“Sounds good!”

Ven had joined the location where Roxas was, and the two of them where now back-to-back, facing the seemingly neverending horde of Heartless.

Roxas wouldn’t admit it, but he was glad to have some backup. Although he wasn’t hurt yet, he was seriously tired, and he felt like he could slip up at any moment now.

The two of them fought and fought and fought, viciously, ferally, with their lives on the line. They slained Heartless after Heartless after Heartless. But the room still looked as crowded as it first was.

“We need to do something decisive now, or we are lost!” shouted Ven.

Roxas agreed. Ven wasn’t doubling his output, he wasn’t quite as effective as the dual-wielder was, but with him having his back, it was much easier to deal with the enemies. Nevertheless, sheer numbers were slowly about to have reason of him. No matter how much he swung his Keyblades, it seemed like it was endless, like it was meaningless. He would never have imagined there could be that many Heartless in the Realm of Light without direct intervention of someone like Xehanort.

“What are you thinking of?”

“Let’s throw all the magic we have at them. It’s not like we’ll need the energy if we’re dead.”

“…Okay.”

Numerous pillars of light fell around them, chaotically, wiping dozens of enemies at a time.

_Is Ven doing that?_

Roxas focused on the enemies before him. He couldn’t use Magic Hour: he wasn’t willing to gamble into putting himself to near death with these numbers. So he settled on the second best thing: he summoned numerous pillars of light (which were less chaotic than Ven’s ones), and started to tear down in the enemy ranks with them and his Keyblades.

The rain of Ven’s pillars stopped. And, instead, a gigantic tornado was devastating the area. _I shouldn’t get close to that thing._ He decided to go back to Ven’s side and to defend him the best he could, as sustaining the tornado seemed to take most of his focus and he didn’t really look like he could defend himself. Roxas kept tearing down enemy after enemy…

And finally, the room started to feel emptier. Which was good, because Roxas was starting to be at his limit. He had even taken a few hits from Neoshadows: not enough to take him down, but enough to hurt. And he nearly had no energy left.

The tornado subsided. Instead, Roxas could feel Ven _float_ next to him. He was enveloped in pure light. The light twisted, condensed, and formed six blades of pure energy. They seemed unstoppable, destroying the remaining Heartless. Under this situation, Roxas decided to let the massive waves of Neoshadows to his friend, and to put to profit his experience to take down the more technical Heartless. After a few moments, which seemed like an eternity, silence finally filled the room. The shadows left it. What was left was just two exhausted, battered kids who were at the doors of death.

“…we made it, Ven. Wow. I was really starting to think we were done for near the end. You’re not that fantastic just with your Keyblade… but man, what you did at the end! Now I know I shouldn’t piss you off.”

“…Roxas?” Ven’s voice was weird, almost like he was half-asleep.

“Yes?”

“……are you alive?”

“Y-yes?”

“……………good.”

Ven fell unconscious.

*********

“…and I hope you fully realize how irresponsible your behavior was. There is a reason our cleaning crews are always made of four of our most experienced wielders. Even if, at first, you thought the numbers were small enough for you to take care of, you should have quickly realized this wasn’t the case, and, as your orders were, simply have come back here to report about the situation.”

“Yes, Master,” answered said irresponsible boys.

“We are grateful that you had the strength to overcome this difficult challenge and come back alive to us, but a mission isn’t the place to boast your strength. Leave that to friendly duels. From now on, I want your word that you will never put yourself in danger when that isn’t necessary.”

“We promise, Master. This experience was enough for us.”

“I hope for you that you are right. Now, you may take your leave. Do not forget that you are still recovering, and do not push your bodies.”

“Yes, Master.”

Roxas and Ven left Yen Sid’s room. A familiar figure was waiting outside.

“Don’t you ever do this to me again.”

Aqua threw herself on Ven and hugged him tight.

“I’m sorry, Aqua. I didn’t mean to –”

“Ven did nothing,” interrupted Roxas. “It’s all my fault. I’m the one who ended up dragging him down here. All of that just so I could prove a stupid point.”

Aqua released Ven, and stood back up. “Don’t say that. You did a mistake, yes, but it’s not _all_ your fault.”

She looked tenderly at the identical boys. “I’m the one who resisted your inclusion in cleaning crews. I’m the one who, while looking at you, just saw boys, and forgot that I had Keyblade wielders in front of me. I’m sorry.”

“Hey Aqua, the past’s the past,” comforted Ven. “We’re here. No one is gone. And mistakes are behind us now. Let’s just enjoy the time we have together… with our friends.”

“You are right, Ven.” She took a forced frown. “But still, don’t ever do that again.”

Ventus chuckled. “It’s a promise, Aqua. Unless I really have to.”

“What do you mean, _unless_?”

They laughed.

And then, after a few minutes of everyone teasing everyone, it was time to leave.

“Ven, let’s go,” said the soft, caring voice of Aqua.

“I’m coming!” answered the blond-haired boy.

Who took a look at the other blond-haired boy.

“Roxas… see you around.”

“Yeah.”

On that day, with that mission, a friendship was born.

And it would only grow closer.


	2. Hanging out

_Knock knock._

In the streets of Twilight Town, a blond-haired teenager was waiting in front of a door. Said door was the entrance of a nice-looking house, big enough for several persons to live in comfortably.

After a few moments, it opened, and a tall, red-haired man was visible inside.

“Who is – wha – but you are…”

He did a double take.

“Oh, it’s you, Ven. Nice to see you.”

“Hi Lea.” Ven chuckled.

“What? Something on my face?”

“Could you remind me who after the war said that they would never mix up the two of us?”

“Stop saying stupid things and just come in.”

“Sure, sure,” teased the teen while taking a step forward.

Ven scanned the inside. As they had all been pretty busy, it was the first time he was visiting Lea and co.’s new home, and he had to admit it looked quite nice. In front of him he saw some stairs that he assumed led to the inhabitants’ rooms, at his right there was a well-equipped kitchen, and at his left there was a large living room.

He and Lea settled on the couches present there, each of them facing the other.

“So, what brings you here?” questioned his host. “Looking for something?”

“You could say so,” answered the guest, visibly amused.

The loud noises of someone coming down the stairs filled the area, prompting Ven to look in their direction.

“Looks like the searching part was easy, actually.”

“Ven?” Roxas was surprised.

“Hey Roxas. Mind if you join us?”

Roxas sat down next to the other teen. He was looking a bit tired, but seemed happy to see his friend.

“What brings you here?” asked the newcomer.

“Sounds like it’s you that’s bringing him here,” noted Lea.

“Really? Why?”

“I wanted to know how you are feeling,” responded Ven. His face was full of concern.

“Oh, err… I’m mostly fine. Recovery is going pretty well.”

“I’m glad. I got lucky and I’m okay, and they told me you were the same, but I wanted to be sure. It was a pretty close call after all. And…”

“Oh, yeah, about that,” stated Lea. “Pretty impressive stuff, huh. I got the details from Roxas. But…”

A mischievous smile appeared on his face.

“I get the feeling some of them were… off. Mind if we do some fact-checking?”

“Lea wait please –” But none of Roxas’s objections could change his friend’s mind.

“So, first things first. Is it true that there were tens of thousands of Heartless?”

“Well uh I didn’t count,” said Ven. “But that sounds plausible.”

“And Roxas took down the majority of them?”

“Sounds plausible too. He fought longer, and he was pretty good at killing them.”

_Roxas didn’t exaggerate this time? No, there must be something I can get him with in his story._

“Ok, ok, maybe that’s true. But… err…”

Roxas pointed at Lea. “Can’t you just believe I’m giving you a truthful account of the events? You always doubt everything I tell you.”

“And I’m often right to doubt it,” the red-haired man remarked. “Plus you did try to stop me, I heard you. You have something to hide.”

“I just – You cut off Ven, if you didn’t notice. We were trying to have a conversation.”

“Sure, sure.” Lea turned his attention to the other blond. “But anyway. What was I saying…”

“That’s it.” Roxas turned to Ven. “You came to see me, right?”

“Y-yes?”

“Then let’s go.” He grabbed his neighbor by the arm, stood up, and started walking towards his room.

“Aw come on, stay and talk!” exclaimed a voice behind them.

Ven, still being dragged by his lookalike, took a look behind. “Sorry Lea, looks like I’m being abducted. See you later!”

“You can’t hide the truth from me, Roxas! I’ll get it, one way or another!”

Ventus arrived in Roxas’s room. It was pretty simplistic: a bed, a desk, some closets, a bookshelf. The room owner offered his guest a chair while he himself sat down on the bed.

Said guest was looking pretty amused. “So, you have a habit of embellishing stories?”

“Hey! You’re not going to buy everything he says, are you?” Roxas looked betrayed.

“I know better than that, don’t worry. But I get a feeling that wasn’t completely wrong, was it?”

“Heh. You got me. However, I didn’t touch anything on that one, it was already crazy enough. And I was just too impressed with what you did to not relate everything truthfully.”

“I… I was impressive?” Ven put a hand behind his head, and looked a bit embarrassed.

“You totally were! Have you seen how effective you were with that tornado – and how you destroyed everyone with these pillars of light – and don’t get me started with the blades…”

The other blond looked even more embarrassed now. He looked away. “It’s just that… I thought you were the cool one there.”

_I was the cool one?_

The guest pulled himself together. “You totally were the cool one. The suicidal one also, but the cool one.”

“Talk about a backhanded compliment.”

“If you don’t like it, I can provide a full refund.”

“Actually, I think I’ll ask for compensation instead.” Roxas grabbed his friend and pulled him towards himself, then pinned him on the mattress.

“Hey!”

Ven took a hold of Roxas’s shoulder, dragged him to the side, and used the momentum to be the one who is pinning down the other.

“You won’t get away with this!”

And then, for a few minutes, you didn’t have two Keyblade wielders who were tasked with protecting the Realm of Light, who were dealing with a dark and difficult past, but you had two children playing together, without a worry in the world. After several attempts of hopelessly trying to assert dominance over the other, the two boys sat down, sweating but beaming.

“I guess we have recovered pretty well,” mused Ventus.

“Yep,” agreed the boy who sat right next to him. “Oh, about that, weren’t you trying to tell me something before Lea did his Lea?”

“Oh, r-right.” Ven lowered his head. “I was just wondering, you know… we just started to really befriend each other, and I thought we could keep going forward with that. So, how about, after we fully recovered… spending time together? For example, somewhere in Twilight Town. That way we could really get to know one another.”

Roxas was surprised that Ven seemed to consider he might answer by the negative. Why would he?

“Of course! I’d really like it, too.”

“Really?”

“Why would I have said no?”

“It’s just, you’re always with Lea and Isa and Xion, and I wasn’t sure you’d want to spend some time with me rather than with them.”

Oh, so that’s what Ven was worried about. It’s true that, outside of missions, he had really never left his friend circle, so he could understand that others may be worried he simply didn’t want to.

“I guess I can make an exception for you,” he teased.

“Thanks. Well, just text me when you’re available. I have to go, now.”

“See you later, Ven!”

“See you, Roxas.”

Ventus stood up and left the room, leaving the other teen with his thoughts. The now alone blond lied in his bed.

_Now that I think about it, it is weird that I accepted that easily._

They had barely met, and he accepted in a heartbeat to spend time away from his other friends and with him. Usually, what he did was inviting new friends to join the circle. And sure, they had spent hours in the mission speaking of everything and nothing while waiting for the night to fall, but that still wasn’t much.

But Roxas thought he understood why he wanted to spend more time with Ven. That day was a perfect proof, after all. His friend had only spent a few minutes there, he just came to ask a few questions, but in the few moments they spent together, Roxas felt _light_. He forgot about his worries, forgot about his problems, and simply felt… himself. Pretty ironic that it’s the person he got his physical appearance from that made him feel that way.

And Ven had such a… bright personality. One which dissipated the shadows. One that made you feel safe around. Roxas had been really awful to Ven at first, yet not once his friend had evocated the subject or held any kind of grudge. He had been awful, and Ven personally came visit him to see if he’s okay, while he could just have texted Lea or something similar. How could Roxas not want to know him more?

_For example, somewhere in Twilight Town._

Right, that sounded like a good plan. Roxas could show Ven all the main things to do here. Maybe they’d even run into Hayner, Pence and Olette while visiting. As for the activities, there were the movies Scrooge was often showing… and maybe they could look around in the various shops… oh, and why not introducing how Struggle works?

The Masters had imposed a recovery period of one week. He was really looking forward for it to be over.

*********

Roxas was a bit nervous, and he didn’t know exactly why. This day was supposed to be a fun day, after all. Ven would come, and they would have a good time hanging out in Twilight Town. So why did he have this negative feeling while this day was supposed to be positive? Emotions still weren’t easy to make sense of. Was this normal? He didn’t really have that before…

Ever since his heart had become close to the one of a regular person, he was often overwhelmed by new feelings; feelings that others had all their lives to adjust to, but that he had to deal with nearly all at once. However, now that they were here, it was really hard to imagine life without them, and he understood the distress of the members of the old Organization. He had participated in their schemes because he didn’t know better, but them… He understood now how effective Xemnas’s lies were.

_Knock knock._

Roxas quickly stood up from the couch he was comfortably installed in, and opened the door. As expected, a familiar figure was standing outside.

“Hey Roxas!” greeted an overtly excited blond teen.

“Hi Ven,” answered his friend with a slight smile.

“Are you ready?”

“Yeah.”

“Then lead the way.”

Ven was beaming, and his good mood was extremely contagious. The other bond’s smile became a bit bigger, and he stepped outside, closing the door behind him.

They walked together in the streets, taking news from each other. The Twilight Town inhabitant was wondering where they should start, and eventually settled for a general visit of the area. They just went around slowly, talking about whatever crossed their minds. From time to time he explained to his guest what a specific building was, or made commentary over the quality of a shop, and he noticed that Ven’s curiosity seemed to be boundless. He could _also_ notice that his friend was easily distracted and not that good on focusing on one thing (he remembered being interrupted in an explanation about the history of the Clock Tower by excited remarks on the tram which appeared at this moment), but that really didn’t bother him.

After a few hours of walking and talking and visiting and generally messing around, the two boys started to desire to settle in one place.

“How about we go at ‘Le Grand Bistrot’?” proposed Roxas.

“’Le’ what?”

“’Le Grand Bistrot’. A great restaurant and bar that Scrooge opened here recently. We could order something to drink and sit down there for a while.”

“Sounds good!”

And so they went there and ordered cocktails (although Roxas had to stop Ven from accidentally ordering one with alcohol), then settled down and talked. Eventually, some familiar sights were visible nearby.

“Hayner! Pence! Olette!”

“Roxas!” echoed three voices. The trio approached the table where the two identical teens were installed. “Oh, and Ven too! Long time no see,” added Hayner.

“It’s our first time since the islands, right?”

“Yeah,” answered Pence. “Still crazy how much you two look alike.”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” dismissed Ven. “Plenty of people in the World are like that. What matters is that Roxas is a great friend. Right Roxas?”

“He sure is!” concurred Olette.

Roxas hid his face in his arms, embarrassed. The others laughed at the sight.

After they all calmed down, Hayner asked a question. “Anyway, what are you doing here?”

“Oh, I’m just visiting. Roxas is showing me around, since I never really explored Twilight Town before. And you? What brings you here?”

“Well,” stated Pence, “Hayner was about to train a bit to be in shape for the next Struggle competition, and we were accompanying him to watch.”

“Struggle? What’s that?” wondered Ven.

“Oh, the concept is really simple,” said Roxas. “You wear that suit that’s covered in orbs, and you whack your opponent with a bat to make their orbs fall and steal them. The one with the most orbs at the end of the timer wins. Oh, and if you steal them all, you automatically are the winner, even if the timer isn’t over.” He paused. “Hey Hayner, mind to show him the ropes? This could be fun.”

“If he’s anything like you or Sora, this won’t be that fun,” mumbled Hayner. “But fine, it’s always great to introduce more friends to Struggle.”

They went to the sandlot, and Ven and Hayner entered the arena, with the proper equipment.

“Hmm, Ven? I’m not sure this is the proper way to hold your bat. You should probably wield it like this to start.” Hayner showed a bat facing upwards, solidly held with two hands, while the other competitor held it in one hand, in a reverse grip.

Roxas chuckled. “Just let him be, Hayner. There’s no way you’re making him hold a weapon in any other fashion.”

“Err, alright then. I guess there is no rule about the way to hold your bat. So now, on how to collect orbs. First, you need to separate the orbs from your opponent by hitting them, just like that.”

Hayner lightly attacked Ven, who didn’t defend himself. A few orbs detached themselves and fell on the ground.

“Then, you just collect them by touching them with your arms and your legs… the suit will attract them and they’ll attach themselves nicely.”

He demonstrated by collecting the orbs his opponent had dropped.

“That’s all there is to it, really. Not something complicated.”

He detached the orbs he had just stolen, and gave them back to Ven. He then let him practice a bit.

“Well then! You see, it’s quite easy. Now, how ‘bout an all-out match to see your level?”

“You’re on!”

The two teens were now facing each other, each of them ready for battle. Pence, Olette and Roxas stopped discussing together and were now watching the action.

Not that the action lasted very long.

As soon as Hayner started to make a move, he was suddenly struck from behind with a blow powerful enough to make him fall on the ground. His opponent then simply grabbed the orbs directly from his lying body while restraining him, and attached them on his own suit.

“Looks like we’ve got a winner,” giggled Olette.

And, while everyone (save Hayner) was fairly amused, it was nothing next to the mad laugh emanating from Roxas.

“Come on Ven,” he finally managed to say, “have you got _no_ decency?”

“He _did_ ask me to go all-out,” justified the other blond.

“I know he did, but you could’ve – ah, nevermind.” He laughed again. Yeah, Ven _was_ asked to go all-out, but he could’ve used at least let him feel like there was a fight. Poor Hayner’s going to have his pride completely shattered now.

“What, did you want me to hold back while I was asked not to? _That_ would have been disrespectful.”

“Wait wait wait,” said Hayner while he was getting back up, “Roxas, you were _holding back_?”

“Sorry Hayner, just felt like it wouldn’t be fun if our ‘serious’ matches all looked like the one you just had now.” He laughed again.

“Yeah, yeah, very funny. Grab this instead of giggling like an idiot.” Hayner then threw his bat at Roxas.

The bat in hand, he now felt compelled to take Hayner’s position in the arena and battle in his place.

“Alright Ven, now let’s see if you can win against a true master.”

“I can’t do it if I don’t try!”

They then threw themselves at each other, exchanging numerous blows at a speed that was hard to follow for their spectators. There was no clear advantage: each few orbs stolen were immediately taken back. Suddenly, at a moment when Roxas had slightly more orbs than his opponent, he broke off from their close battle and started running away in the arena.

“Wait, what are you doing? Get back here!”

Ven pursued his adversary, but said adversary was fighting very defensively and took any opportunity to slip and run away.

“I see that the oldest and noblest strategy is being used,” said an amused Hayner. “That’s where you can see that he has experience and you don’t.”

“Huh?” answered Ven. “Could you fill me in on _what’s going on_?”

“Simple,” explained Olette. “He has more orbs than you and is now waiting for the timer to run out.”

“What? That’s not fair! Come back here, you!” Ven once again tried to corner Roxas, but a well-timed Reversal allowed him to escape.

“Aaaand time out! Roxas is the winner!” loudly declared Pence.

“You only won ‘cause you were playing dirty!” said an annoyed Ven.

“I only won ‘cause I’m better than you,” teased the champion.

The loser dejectedly threw his bat at him before leaving the arena.

“Come on,” shouted Roxas, “what happened to your fair-play?”

“Same thing than yours!” yelled back his lookalike. Both then intensely stared at each other. And ended up laughing.

“Alright, alright, I guess I still have much to learn. Coincidentally, I happen to know someone really good at Struggle to help me improve.”

“I’ll ask him if he’s available,” quipped the other blond.

“Hey Roxas,” interrupted Pence. “Guess you’re the champion of our little band. How do you want to celebrate your victory?”

“Hmm, I don’t know, how about, to change, sea-salt ice cream?”

“Very original,” teased Olette.

“Sea-salt ice cream?” interrogated Ven. “Never had this flavor before. I’ll give it a try.”

“ _WhatVenyouneverhadseasalticecreamlet’sfixthatnowcomeonlet’sgo”_

“Calm down Roxas,” laughed Hayner. “It’s just ice cream.”

“ _Isaidlet’sgonow_ ”

All the others laughed and followed Roxas. They bought said ice cream then went at the top of the clock tower, to be able to enjoy the view of the sunset.

“So, what do you think?” asked Roxas.

“Well,” answered Ven, “at first it seems salty, but then it ends up really sweet. I like it. Not my favorite one, but it’s definitively nice.”

“Not your favorite one??”

“Roxas,” said Hayner, “have you even _tried_ another flavor?”

“What? No! Why would I?”

They all laughed. They then sat there silently, watching the sky, watching the sun.

“Well, it’s starting to get late, so we have to go now,” stated Olette. “See you guys around!”

“See you!” answered Roxas. The trio then took their leave, leaving the two blonds alone.

They kept staring at the sun, silently eating their ice cream. Eventually, they finished it, but neither of them broke the silence, neither of them wanted to end the serenity of this instant.

Roxas used this moment to do some thinking. He realized that it was indeed pretty late, and that he didn’t see the time pass _at all_. It was pretty incredible, to him it seemed like barely two hours passed, but the whole afternoon was now gone. He must really have enjoyed himself. Actually, he didn’t remember a time where he had that much fun. That conclusion was a bit surprising: what they did today was nothing crazy. Why was he enjoying himself so much?

“Well, I have to go too now.” Ven’s voice snapped Roxas out of his thoughts. “How about seeing each other soon? Today was really nice.”

“It really was!” concurred the other blond. “And yeah, let’s do that again soon. How about doing it in Disney Town next time?”

“So you didn’t forget.” Ven chuckled. “I’d love to show you around! There’s just so many things to do, you’ll love it. And maybe, you’ll even try ice cream that isn’t sea-salt flavored!”

“No chance.”

They laughed.

“Anyway, I really have to go. Just text me next time you’re available, ok? I’d love to go to Disney Town with you.”

“Alright. See you soon!”

“See you soon.” Ven smiled at Roxas, and then left.

_Going to Disney Town with Ven…_

Roxas had to make himself available as soon as possible.


	3. Friends

_Where is he?_

Roxas had just arrived in Disney Town and couldn’t see the friend he was looking for. They hadn’t traveled together since they use different transportation means, but usually they made it so they’d land at the same place in a world. Not seeing Ven here was definitively not something Roxas had expected.

Thinking the other blond may simply be a bit late, he took some time to look at where he was. Obviously, the castle that could be perceived from far away stood out, but the rest of the place caught his eye too. It was all so lively and colorful. There seemed to be balloons and banners everywhere, people flocking from one activity to the next, and…

“Hey Roxas! Hope I didn’t make you wait too long.”

Ventus had appeared right next to him. He looked pretty happy.

“Hey Ven. It’s fine, I only arrived a few minutes ago.”

“I was waiting for you at the plaza, because it’s the go-to place here. But then I realized you’d not know about it, so I searched for you, and here you are. Hope you’re ready, because there’s a _lot_ of things to do here! Especially since it’s the Dream Festival right now. Which is a bit weird because last time it wasn’t at this moment of the year. You know, back then, there was…”

Ven then made a long speech about everything there was in his last visit, and Roxas couldn’t deny that it did sound pretty interesting. Which was bringing a very obvious question, that Ven was seemingly oblivious to.

“Um, Ven?” interrupted Roxas.

“Yeah?”

“That sounds great and all, but didn’t we come here to actually _do_ all of that?”

“Oh, right!” Ven looked a bit embarrassed. “Sorry, sorry, I got carried a bit there. Then let’s go! The plaza’s right here, past the entrance. You just need to… oh.” Now, he seemed slightly sad.

“What’s wrong?” asked an anxious voice. Seeing his friend like that immediately worried Roxas.

“You don’t have a pass, do you? I should’ve thought of that… Me, Terra and Aqua all have one, and I kinda forgot you wouldn’t.”

To Ven’s surprise, Roxas laughed. “And you had me worried for a second! Seeing how you were behaving, I imagined it was a lot worse.”

“Hey, it’s quite serious! If I invite you to come here and then we can’t do anything because I was stupid, this is not going to be great.”

“Come on, it’s not like it should be hard to get that pass, right?”

“I… don’t know how we get some. Scrooge gave us ours. And…”

Seeing how Roxas wasn’t bothered at all by the way he messed up, Ven got back some joy and confidence. There was a big grin on his face.

“I guess I’ll just ask around! I’ll be back in a sec. Sorry!”

He then ran off. Roxas was pretty amused by the whole situation. And, he also was… happy? He was feeling good. Nothing happened yet, but just being here felt good. No, not just that. It was seeing Ven try so hard to make this experience great that was making him feel warm inside. You could really see how important it was for him to make Roxas happy.

_He’s doing all of this… for me?_

Ven then once again brought him back to reality by suddenly appearing near him.

“Well, apparently there’s some place around here where they sell passes, so we’ll just go there. And it’s on me!”

“No, wait, it’s my ticket, I’ll pay for it.”

“Nuh-uh, I’m the one inviting you, so I’m the one to pay.”

“But _Ven_ …”

“Oh, hello Ventus. And I suppose you must be Roxas? Or maybe it is the other way around. Sorry, I cannot tell.”

Roxas noticed that the newcomer was looking very similar to Mickey, but with a feminine voice and wearing a pink dress.

“Good morning, Minnie!” answered Ventus. “You were correct, I’m Ven and he is Roxas. I guess some presentations would be proper…”

He then put himself between his friend and the mouse, and introduced them to each other. “Roxas, Queen Minnie. Minnie, Roxas.”

_Queen?_

“Oh, huh, it’s an honor to meet you, Your Majesty.”

“Please, there is no need to be so formal,” stated the Queen. “Just call me Minnie. And it is a pleasure to meet you, Roxas. The King has told me everything that happened. You may have noticed we are holding the Festival at an unusual time, but it was unsafe before… Oh, I am glad this is all over.”

She paused. “Speaking of which, what are you two doing outside? You should be enjoying yourselves with all the activities.”

“Well,” answered Roxas, “we realized I don’t have a ticket, so I need to buy myself one.”

“You mean _I_ need to buy _you_ a ticket,” corrected Ven.

“Buy? Now, after everything you have done for us, I feel like this wouldn’t be proper.” Minnie then handed a lifetime pass. “Please accept this as a small token for our gratitude.”

Roxas took the pass. “Thank you, Minnie.”

“Speaking of small tokens of gratitude…” Minnie turned her attention to Ven. “Ventus, ten years ago you have won the Million Dreams Award, jointly with Terra and Aqua, and you were never able to accept your prize.”

“Really? People voted for me?”

“Err, what’s the Million Dreams Award?” asked Roxas.

“That's one of the Dream Festival events,” explained Minnie. “Everyone votes for who they think is the town's most exemplary citizen. The goal is to help us appreciate how much we all look out for each other every day. Now, Ventus, Roxas, would you follow me inside?”

Equipped with their passes, the two teens entered the town without any problem, and followed Minnie inside. Then Ven noticed they were walking towards the stage.

“Oh, there is no need for a ceremony,” he stated. “You said I won it jointly with Terra and Aqua, right? Then we’ll all come back here to accept it together. Let’s just put it aside for now.”

“That would be wonderful if you could all come here together,” agreed Minnie. “However, let me at least present you your prize… Aqua has already accepted hers, it only seems fair that we are giving you yours now.”

The Queen left, and came back with a bowl of Double Crunch ice cream. “As a small token of our gratitude, please accept this ice cream flavor we have made just for you.”

“Just for me? You really didn’t have to. Thank you.”

Ven grabbed the bowl that was given to him, and then took a bite of the ice cream.

“Wow, it is really good! It makes me feel like I have wings. This was made by Huey, Dewey and Louie, right? I’ll have to go thank them. By the way, Roxas, want to try it?”

“Err, Ven, it’s your prize,” answered the other blond.

“And I want you to have some of it. Plus, it’ll help you broaden your ice cream horizons,” teased Ven.

“You say that like there is a need for something else than sea-salt ice cream. But alright, I’ll give it a try, if you insist so much.”

Roxas took a bite, and he had to admit that it was pretty good. The fruit was really present and got along pretty well with the rest, and it was really sweet while not being sickening.

“It’s not sea-salt ice cream, but it’s correct, I guess. I’ll give it a pass.”

“Such high praise! Thank you, Roxas.”

The two teens laughed together.

“Oh, it looks like I have to leave,” declared Minnie. “It was really nice to be with you two. I hope we’ll see each other soon.”

“Thank you again, Minnie, and see you around!” answered Ven.

Roxas and Ven then finished the ice cream, and left for other activities. They first walked around, with Ventus showing his friend the numerous things present in the town and introducing him to the inhabitants. Afterwards, they went to see Huey, Dewey and Louie, and Ven showed Roxas how to operate the ice cream machine. At first, Roxas didn’t seem very good in operating it, nor did he really look interested. But, after having learned that some of Ven’s high scores “still haven’t been beaten to this day”, he suddenly became extremely focused and determined, and he spent dozens and dozens of minutes trying really hard, until he eventually managed to beat the high score in one song.

“So, what do you think of that?” he asked, pleased of himself.

“Well, what I think of it is that when I’ll come back here with Terra and Aqua, I’ll have to get back my number one spot on all of these songs.”

“I meant my performance.”

“Oh, that. Well, it’s not me, but it’s correct, I guess. I’ll give it a pass.”

“Watch what you’re saying!”

Roxas lightly tapped Ven, and they laughed. Afterwards, Ventus wanted to do some racing, but his friend didn’t have a vehicle, so they decided to go to the fruitball court instead. There, they faced each other numerous times, but Roxas just couldn’t seem to win. Not only had Ven some experience, the game also seemed to be _built_ for him. A game where mobility, especially aerial mobility, is the key to victory? Right his alley.

“Wait, you can’t just split a bunch of grapes and have each individual grape count as a goal,” complained Roxas right after he noticed his opponent’s score suddenly increased by ten. “That’s just not fair!”

“Pretty sure you can! Learned it the hard way back then,” playfully answered his companion.

“But how are you supposed to _block_ all of these? They just go everywhere!”

“I’d recommend hitting them back. Pretty effective.”

“Very funny. And, it’s not just the grapes you know. Everything about this game just feels poorly designed. There are a lot of situations where you can’t really do anything about it. I’m sorry, but from now I’ll pass.”

“So when you beat me at Struggle using a cheap tactic it’s because you have a ‘strategy’ and you’re ‘better’, when you beat my Ice Cream Beat high score it’s because of a performance you’re _dying_ to get praise on, but as soon as you lose a game it becomes ‘unfair’ and ‘poorly designed’?”

“Can’t help it if you can only beat me at unfair and poorly designed games.”

“Now _you_ watch what you are saying!”

Ven ruffled Roxas’s hair, and they both laughed.

“Anyway, how about instead of fighting each other we team up and clean the floor with everyone?” proposed Ventus.

“We can do that?”

“Totally. Teams of two are frequent in this game.”

And so they proceeded to do exactly that. It was quite difficult for any team to pose any threat to the two blonds. Roxas was sending out smashes with rare strength, and was using his two Keyblades to be able to hit two different fruits at once. (Sometimes. It was pretty difficult.) And Ventus just seemed to be everywhere. At one moment he’d knock back a tomato on one side of the field, the next he was stopping a pineapple in the air on the other side. They almost felt sorry for anyone trying to oppose such unstoppable force.

After having beaten absolutely every opponent and won rematches against anybody who asked, they started to feel pretty tired. They had been in Disney Town for hours now.

“Well, it’s starting to get late, and besides I couldn’t really do anything further even if I wanted to. We should probably get back home soon,” stated Ven.

“Yeah,” simply answered Roxas.

They then sat down on a bench for a few minutes, next to each other, not doing anything but relax.

Ventus eventually broke the silence. “Today was amazing.”

“Yeah, it was.”

Roxas couldn’t deny that this day was one of the best of his life. Ven was right before: there is so much to do in Disney Town. He really had to show this place to Lea and Xion (and maybe Isa, but this doesn’t really seem like his thing). But, more than anything, there was a friend with whom he could do all these things: and that’s what truly made this day special.

“Let’s meet up again soon,” he added.

“Yeah, about that…” Ven sounded a bit disappointed. “We’re going to resume missions, right? And I looked at our schedules. They are in conflict, I don’t think we’ll be able to be together anytime soon…”

“Oh.” Roxas was a bit disappointed too. And, also, he saw that the prospect of not meeting each other made Ven feel bad, and this in turn made him feel bad. “There’s probably going to be an opportunity, don’t sweat it. We’ll find a way.”

Ven lightened a bit. “You’re right.”

And then, after a bit more talking, they each went to their respective homes.

*********

There wasn’t any opportunity.

No matter how they tried, their schedules never seemed to line up, and they never managed to spend any significant time with each other. Sure, they could talk a few minutes here and there at the tower, and they texted each other pretty regularly, but this wasn’t the same thing.

Roxas wondered why wanting to spend time with Ven was such a big deal for him. They had only spent a few days together after all, it’s not like they were super close or anything. And yet, he really wanted them to spend significantly more time with each other, and the fact they couldn’t was hurting him.

He also wondered how Ven was feeling about this. Did he want them to have time together as much as Roxas did? Or did he just find that nice but was living perfectly fine without? The former Nobody couldn’t help but ask himself if he was being too sentimental, if a normal person wouldn’t feel the way he is feeling, if he just didn’t know how to handle that stuff, if he was being completely ridiculous.

He could reflect all he wanted over his situation, but this didn’t change the fact that he missed Ven, and there didn’t seem to be a way for them to be together again anytime soon…

At least he could see him for sure at each one of the regular meetings that were at the Mysterious Tower, to have a briefing on the situation of the worlds. And then, at the end of one of these meetings…

“Hmm, I’d have a request.”

Everyone turned their heads to look at the one who just talked.

“What is it, Ventus?” interrogated Yen Sid.

“I was wondering if…” He hesitated. “I was wondering if, in the future, there could be changes in the schedule.”

“What kind of changes?” queried Aqua.

“Well, under the current one, I never manage to be able to find any free time that Roxas and I would have in common. So, I was thinking that maybe, you know, we could have our mission duty at the same time, instead of the current arrangement. That way, we could see each other.”

“What do you think of this, Roxas?” asked Yen Sid.

“Yeah!”

Oops. Maybe that sounded a bit too enthusiastic.

Lea then laughed. Yeah, that was definitively a bit too enthusiastic.

“I see no reason not to grant you your request,” answered the old wizard. “There is some latitude in the way we are elaborating the schedule, and if we can make a change that allows two friends to deepen their connection, then we have no right to not consider it.”

The others in the room nodded.

_Well_ , thought Roxas, _looks like the solution was just asking. Way to go, Roxas. You could have done this much earlier. Should have._

The schedule changed a few days afterwards, and suddenly the two friends had a lot of time that could be used to be together. And they didn’t let that opportunity pass.

Ventus visited Twilight Town regularly, and spent time hanging out with Roxas, Lea, Xion, Isa, Hayner, Pence, and Olette. During these times, he and Roxas significantly deepened their bond and learned a lot about each other: all their similarities (and there were a lot of them), but also their differences, what made them unique.

And, weirdly enough, the more they spent time together like this, the less happy Roxas was, because all the limitations became more and more apparent. First, obviously, they weren’t spending that much time with each other. It was an afternoon here and there. And sure, it was significant, but he progressively wanted for the time they were together to be longer and longer. And also, and that was the second point, he wanted them to spend more of their time alone. Just them, not all the others. Not all the time obviously, he valued his other friends, but it seemed like it was _never_ just them, like in any activity they did there was _always_ someone else. And he wanted time with Ven, just with Ven. He didn’t understand why. It was weird. He was feeling egoistical.

These issues were slowly eating Roxas, and he felt like there wasn’t any way for him to break out of that situation. And then, he remembered that he already felt that way before, and that the solution was ridiculously simple.

“Hmm, Ven?” he asked at one of the rare moments the living room was only populated by the two of them.

“Yeah?”

“Wanna go in town? Just you and me.”

“Sure!” agreed his friend, a large smile on his face.

They left and went outside, slowly walking in the streets without any particular destination in mind.

“I’m wondering, why now?” asked Ven. “It was a bit sudden, and you never ask that usually.”

“Oh, because I felt like it,” answered Roxas. “I was just thinking, you know, maybe we should spend some time alone from time to time. A bit like the first time you came here.”

“You… you think we should spend more time alone? Without the others?”

“Yeah. I mean, I know you’re not really a fan of this, so that’s why I didn’t ask before, but…”

“Huh?”

“I’ve noticed how you’re always careful to include the others in any activity we do. And it’s fine, don’t get me wrong with that. I’m not trying to…”

He was interrupted by a sweet laugh. Ven’s laugh.

“You know,” said Ventus, “I was only doing that out of consideration for you. I didn’t want to feel like I was taking you away from your friends.”

“You’re not taking me away from anything, Ven. I enjoy spending time with you.”

“Guess I should’ve just asked. I feel stupid now.”

He laughed again. His laugh was pleasant to hear.

“Any other misunderstanding to clear up, while we’re at it?” playfully added Ven.

_Guess it’s worth a shot._

“Maybe you want us to spend more time together?” asked Roxas. “Like, not an afternoon here and there, but maybe, a few consecutive days from time to time?”

“Oh come on, seriously?” answered Ven.

_Yeah, it was weird and foolish of me, I never should have said that. I’m an idiot._

“Another thing I really should’ve asked instead of assuming you’d say no. Looks like we’re not good at that communication thing.”

“Wait, you want that too?”

“’Course I do! Why wouldn’t I? You’re one of my best friends.” Ven was beaming.

_Best friends, huh…_

Yeah, ‘best friends’ was appropriate. He felt nice and safe around Ven, the same way than around Lea and Xion.

The same way?

“Well, you know,” answered Roxas, “I know you’re pretty busy with your training and all, so I didn’t think you’d be able to have more time available.”

That was a lie, that wasn’t the real reason he thought Ven would refuse. But that was a valid concern, one that came to his mind just now, so he figured it was as good as a moment as ever to bring it up.

“Hmm, it’s true that I’m pretty busy,” pondered Ven. “Maybe… hmm… Well, you know, why don’t you, Lea and Xion come train with us from time to time?”

“Huh?”

“That way we help you stay in shape for missions, I don’t miss on my training, and we can spend more time together. Besides, didn’t you tell me Lea was starting to get sloppy in your last mission together? Training can’t hurt.”

“That’s… a pretty good idea!” approved Roxas. “I’ll talk about it to the others. It’s true that training can’t hurt, and it would definitively be nice if we could spend more time together.”

“Then it’s settled! Well, err, I also need to run the idea through Aqua and Terra, of course. But I don’t see any reason they would say no. Unless of course we have something planned soon…”

He paused. “Well, I’ll just text you when I know. In the meantime, how about I beat you in a game of Struggle?”

Roxas chuckled. “You can try.”


	4. None of this makes sense to me

“Roxas?”

Ven’s voice brought back the boy to reality. He had yet again been doing one of his introspective moments.

“Lea and Xion are waiting for you,” added Ventus.

“Oh. Yeah.”

Roxas stood up. It was the end of one of the now regular training sessions they had at the Land of Departure, and so time for him to get back home. He really enjoyed these sessions: he was learning a lot of things that couldn’t really be picked up on the field, showing his fellow Keyblade wielders that he was pretty good, and able to spend significant time with a certain friend that happened to look the same than he did.

“So, when’s the next time you are coming in Twilight Town?”

“Nothing special planned, so at the usual time. Unless it bothers you.”

“Usual time is fine for me.”

Roxas grabbed his bag, and the two teens made their way to the main hall, where the others were waiting.

“About time,” said Lea. “Now let’s just leave right away.”

“Tired of losing?” teased Roxas.

Lea wasn’t a bad Keyblade wielder. Not at all. He had skill, he had techniques, he had power, he was pretty good overall. But he was training with five wielders who just were crazily good, and so friendly matches weren’t really able to convey his own level, much to his chagrin.

“Nah, just tired of you saying that,” playfully answered the red-haired man. His tone then became more serious. “Also, I promised Isa we’d not be late this time. He’s alone when we’re all leaving like that, you know.”

“Then let’s not waste time,” stated Xion.

Everyone exchanged good-byes, and Terra, Aqua and Ventus watched their friends take their leave.

The last look Roxas had of Ven was of him smiling. A sweet and soft smile which when thinking about it was perfectly adorable and – a totally regular smile that Roxas had absolutely no reason to linger on.

*********

As was now ritual, Ven was spending a few days of his free time in Twilight Town. The house Roxas, Xion, Lea and Isa were living in had no guest rooms, so he was sleeping in Roxas’s room, on which the room owner had no objection. The arrangement was natural enough that, when Roxas came to the Land of Departure for training, he’d sleep more often than not in Ven’s room instead of his own there.

Ventus had arrived in the evening, and, after having spent a bit of time with everyone, was now asleep on the mattress that was put there for him. Roxas watched his peaceful face as he was sleeping, a face that could you make you feel everything was right in the world, its contemplation being strangely smoothing, and – it was high time for Roxas to sleep too.

*********

The next day, two blond-haired teens were waiting for their meal at one table of The Grand Bistro. Ven was always making a point of the two of them going to eat there once per visit, paying for both. Roxas didn’t quite understand the reasons, but he wasn’t going to refuse some time spent together with one of his best friends. He didn’t like feeling in debt however, so he was making sure of always being the one to pay for Ven’s ice cream each time they went to the clock tower.

Time here was nice and peaceful. It was like a bubble shielding everything else away, where only the present mattered. A moment where the greatest worry one might have was choosing between a Sole Meunière and a Sea Bass en Papillote. It was so easy to have the mind vagabond, so easy to lose oneself into these deep blue eyes…

Ven looked away, blushing, and Roxas realized he was doing it again. Acting like a total weirdo. No wonder his friend was embarrassed. He had to recover, and quick.

“By the way, you told me Riku came to train with you in the last few days. How did it go?” he asked.

“Well you know, he spent most of his time with Terra,” answered his friend. “The two of them get along pretty well with each other, and training together is beneficial to both of them, because, you know.”

“Yeah.” Roxas paused for a bit. “It’s nice that they are managing to slowly move on from the past.”

“It’s nice that we _all_ manage to slowly move on from the past.”

Roxas chuckled. “You’re right. I think we all bought the wrong life packages.”

“Tell me about it… I want a refund. Now.”

Both teens giggled together. Then Roxas adopted a more serious tone.

“To be perfectly honest with you, Ven… It’s not that easy to move on. I still find myself questioning who I really am.”

“Yeah well, me too, you know. I work out through one memory loss, to find out there’s another memory loss behind. Wonder if I’ll ever find the truth at this rate.”

The atmosphere was now a bit morbid.

“But huh I think it’s better to not think too much about that kind of stuff. We’ll need to handle it, but we shouldn’t linger on it in daily life, and instead focus on problems that are a bit less existential. Like, instead of trying to figure out my past, I’m trying to figure out how to be cool enough to have a chance to…” Ventus suddenly looked away. “Err, I _mean_ , I’m focusing on more immediate matters.”

Roxas raised an eyebrow. The backpedaling here was blatant, he had no idea on how Ven thought there’d be no suspicion brought on that statement. But Roxas wasn’t Lea, you know, so he’d have the decency to not press on it and leave that matter that seemed to concern Ven private, until he was ready to talk about it.

“And speaking of more immediate matters,” added Roxas’s friend, “it looks like our meals are coming!”

“About time,” grumbled the other teen.

*********

The eternal sunset was as beautiful as ever on top of the clock tower. Watching it were two young Keyblade wielders, soldiers hardened by battle experience. But this moment was not one to think about that. It was a time to be contemplative, to enjoy the calm and the peace of this place.

Or at least it was supposed to be. This could have been a perfect moment, had Roxas’s head not been a prisoner of a whirlwind of thoughts. Nonsensical thoughts. Unnatural thoughts. Thoughts that had no place in his mind. Couldn’t they just leave him alone so that he could bask in the beauty of the instant?

It had slowly become harder and harder to ignore or suppress these thoughts. They came more often, more powerful, took more and more of his attention. Roxas didn’t exactly know what they were or where they came from. He knew, however, that they weren’t what friendship should be like.

How long ago were they born? It was hard to say. They didn’t come at once, their apparition was progressive. He knew for sure that it wasn’t until he had spent significant time with Ven that they had appeared. And he also knew that they had been here for at least a few weeks. The exact details besides that, it was hard to tell.

The thoughts themselves however, they were pretty clear. It was some sort of weird obsession with Ven. He was often stuck in his brain, even though they were spending a lot of time together. It didn’t make any sense. It was totally weird. Roxas had obviously thought that maybe talking about it to others would help him understand his feelings, but if he talked about _that_ , he’d just pass for a freak. And he knew it wasn’t normal. He supposed it was some kind of weird glitch left behind by the fact he was formerly a Nobody.

With immense effort, he managed to put back these thoughts to some corner of his mind. Maybe one day he should try to dive into them and comprehend them. But he was afraid that these unnatural feelings may damage his still new and fragile heart. In the meantime, he could just profit of this most beautiful instant.

“You know what’s better than watching this beautiful sunset?” suddenly asked his neighbor.

“Watching it while eating ice cream?”

“Silly. You’re ruining my moment. Plus we did just that at the instant.”

They were both holding a stick from ice cream they finished dozens of minutes earlier.

“What I was talking about,” pursued Ven, “is another thing I did today.”

“Huh?”

“Watching the sunset… with you.”

“Wow, you can be so cheesy sometimes,” teased Roxas.

“…maybe. But would you fundamentally disagree?”

“…I guess not. Watching it with you does magnify the event.”

Hearing this made Ventus smile. And suddenly, some kind of weird tension filled Roxas. He looked at his right: his friend had moved closer.

“’Magnify’?” asked said friend, almost in a whisper. “And _I’m_ the one being cheesy?”

“Quiet, you.”

Ven was now pretty close to him. For some reason, Roxas’s heart felt like it was beating extremely fast, almost as if the situation were one of life and death. But it was just a friend being pretty close to him on the clock tower. Happened all the time: Lea and Xion tended to be pretty close to him when they were all here together. None of this made any sense.

They both remained there, without a word, for a few moments. It wasn’t very long, but it stretched until it seemed like an eternity. Roxas was pretty tense, and he could feel that Ven was the same.

_He is that way because he is sensing that I am too? Is this making him uncomfortable?_

He did a quick glance in his friend’s direction. The light of the setting sun was reflecting in his deep blue eyes. A faint smile was visible and it was assuredly the sweetest smile that ever existed. The facial features were so soft and could make anyone feel that – the weird thoughts came back. He needed to empty his mind. Empty his mind. Free it from the anomalies.

Suddenly, he felt Ven’s hand entering in contact with his. He didn’t move, didn’t breathe, couldn’t quite process what was happening. He could feel his friend’s gaze on him, as if gauging for a reaction. A reaction to what? His mind struggled to gather the pieces.

Then, Ven’s hand moved slightly more, and was now in Roxas’s hand. Roxas could have sworn he skipped a heartbeat. It closed, and mechanically Roxas did the same. The purest joy was filling his body, and his mind was struggling to catch up. If it was that easy to be happy, why didn’t people hold hands more often? Was it only happening because it was Ven? Did he have that kind of power?

He looked at him. Ventus had closed his eyes, his head slightly backwards, his smile slightly larger than it was. Roxas decided to do the same.

The world could have stopped here. It had reached its absolute.

Seconds passed. Or years. It was impossible to tell. Nothing seemed to matter anymore, not even time passing. An incredibly soothing sensation enveloped his heart, and it was all he needed for eternity.

Time went on, and on. This moment was to never end.

Eventually, he felt Ventus moving slightly, so he opened his eyes. Ven was watching him. He had a pretty soft smile.

“It feels nice, doesn’t it?” he eventually said.

“Yeah,” murmured Roxas.

Ventus took a deep breath.

“Roxas…”

No other words came out of his mouth. He seemed anxious.

“Yeah?”

“I… well…”

He took another deep breath.

“Roxas. I…”

He paused once again.

“I…”

“What is it?”

Ven looked a bit distressed. He took yet another deep breath, longer than the others, and calmed down.

“Roxas. What do you think of us?”

“Huh?”

“What… do you consider us as?”

Roxas chuckled. “That’s easy. We’re the best of friends.”

“Best of friends…”

_Is that… disappointment? About what?_

“Yeah, that makes sense,” continued Ven. “It’s the best way to describe our current relationship.” He then looked at his gummiphone. “Wow, it’s getting late. We should go home.”

“Probably.”

Both teens got up, and took their leave.

*********

The next day was “hanging out with friends” day. Roxas, Lea, Xion, Ventus, and even Isa were wandering the streets of Twilight Town. They were soon joined by Hayner, Pence and Olette, who were having a free day. All of them casually talked about anything that went through their minds.

This day was a pretty classical day, going the same way than other days of the same kind. Yet something was different. If this day truly was identical to others, why was that bad feeling nagging Roxas? They should all have been happy here. And yet, he could notice Ventus worrying about something. Ven didn’t let it show – in fact, anyone looking at him right now would think he is going fantastically well, like usual – but Roxas knew him too well by now. He could notice the slight clues that he let slip from time to time. And when Ven was worried, Roxas was worried to.

“Well, well, well. Looks like the losers welcomed new members.”

“Seifer!” shouted Hayner.

“Who are they? They don’t seem to be from here.”

“Hey, we live here. Who do you think you are?” asked Lea.

“I’ll be the one asking the questions,” answered Seifer.

“Yeah, Seifer’s the head of the Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee, y’know?” added Rai.

“True leader,” completed Fuu.

_Great, Seifer coming back. Just what I needed,_ thought Roxas.

“Since when did anything we do matter to you?” snapped Hayner.

“It doesn’t need to,” stated Seifer. “If I want to know, I’ll know. Simple as that.”

“Leave us alone,” hissed Roxas.

“Look there at little blondie trying to look tough.” Seifer got close to Roxas. “Well, what are you gonna do now? Where’s your mother?”

An idea crossed Roxas’s mind. A way to become free of the frustration he had accumulated against Seifer – which didn’t even actually come from Seifer, but seeing him for real, there was no difference.

“Such bold words coming from you,” mocked Roxas. “Wonder if that’s all you’re able of. I know all about your type: big in words, but when it’d come to say a Struggle match, you’d lose it all.”

“Ha! You’re picking on the wrong guy, little buddy.”

“Yeah, Seifer’s like the strongest in town, y’know?”

“Total annihilation.”

“Oh yeah?” answered Roxas. “Then let’s go to the sandlot to see if you can match your big words.”

“I’ll make you learn your place, loser.”

Seifer, Rai and Fuu left for the sandlot.

“Seriously, Roxas?” asked Xion.

“What? I’m not going to let Seifer have his way.”

“You know him?” asked Olette.

“Sadly. Anyway, let’s get going.”

“You won’t even give me the time to go buy some pop-corn? You’re not fun, Roxas,” complained Lea.

The group moved to the sandlot.

“So you came. I was starting to think you chickened out.”

“In your dreams, Seifer.”

The two combatants put on the proper equipment, and got ready.

“I’m giving you ten seconds, Roxas,” playfully said Ven.

“Should be more than enough. But I’ll have to decline: it won’t be fun if it’s that short.”

“What are you two prattling about? Come on and fight.” Seifer was waiting.

They got in position. And just when they were about to start fighting…

“Wait a second you two.”

The Struggle promoter arrived on the scene, puffing. Following him were a bunch of Twilight Town denizens.

“I heard our current Champion, Seifer, was taking on a challenger in a proper Struggle match, and there was no way I would miss that!”

“There was no need to come here,” sneered Seifer. “This is just going to be a quick, disciplinary measure. It’s not going to be interesting.”

“What?” teased Roxas. “Scared of losing in front of a bunch of people?”

“That’s enough.” Seifer reverted to his battle position.

“From your attitude I get that you both know the rules?” stated the promoter. “Then let’s not waste further time, people are waiting. Leeeeeet’s Struggle!”

The two adversaries launched themselves at each other. Seifer could see from here that this was going to be an easy fight. He just needed to strike at that moment and –

He struck in the void. Huh? His opponent was right here a moment ago.

“Lost me?” came from a snarky voice behind him.

Hmpf. Looked like his opponent was mobile. Maybe he needed to fight a bit more seriously.

Seifer turned around, and slowly approached the one who dared defy him, ready to parry or to strike. He was going to hit him so hard that the kid would forget why he even wanted to come here in the –

Seifer suddenly did a U-turn. How did he get there? And that guy – Roxas, he thinks – he wasn’t even in a battle position. He was just casual, his weapon down, a grin on his face. Who did he think he was? He was really in need of a lesson.

The tension was palpable, and the crowd was glued on what was happening. And Ven’s gaze was solidly locked on Roxas.

Seifer readied himself to give all he had, and launched himself at his adversary. He was ready to give the most vicious hit he ever dealt – and fell on the floor, since there was no longer anything where he arrived.

“Come on, fight me, not the ground!” mocked Roxas.

Ugh. If he could just land _one hit_.

“Quit messing around, boys,” stated the promoter. “The time is about to run out.”

“Oh, sorry about that,” said Roxas, facing the Struggle promoter.

That was it. Seifer’s chance. Roxas was distracted. He wasn’t even looking at him. Seifer jumped high in the air, ready to give his everything, then dashed on his prey, about to end this once and for all.

At that moment, Roxas casually raised the arm that was holding his bat, and stopped Seifer right in his flight. The momentum from Seifer’s attack was unable to pierce through his opponent’s guard, and so blew back right to the attacker, throwing him on the ground. His orbs spilled around, and Roxas collected them.

“Time’s out!” shouted the promoter. “What a sight! In a shocking twist of events, our Champion got soundly defeated by his challenger! Has he gotten sloppy? Will this be the wake-up call that he needs to train before the tournament, if he desires to keep his title? In any case, I am pleased to announce that Roxas here is the winner of this match!”

“Roxas! Roxas!” chanted the crowd.

Rai and Fuu ran in front of Seifer.

“Seifer’s a bit tired from his journey, y’know?”

“Doesn’t count.”

The trio then took its leave.

“Roxas!” shouted Ven, who was running towards him. “That was amazing!”

“What? Are you going to congratulate him for beating a punk like that now?” teased Lea.

“It’s not about that, Lea. It’s all about the _style_.”

“Style? You call that style? I’ll show you next time was style _really_ is.”

But Ven wasn’t listening.

“Great job Roxas! Pence went to fetch your reward, it should arrive soon.”

“Reward?”

“You know.” Ven winked.

“Oh. Of course.”

The group then left the crowd and went someplace calmer. They sat on a bunch of benches not far from there: Roxas and Ven on one, Xion and Lea on another, and Hayner and Olette on a third. Then Pence came back with ice cream, and sat down next to Olette.

“Never thought I’d ever enjoy seeing Seifer,” declared Hayner. “But that! Everyone’s bound to talk about it for days. Days of people talking about Seifer being humiliated! Can’t tell you how much joy this fills me with.”

“Hayner!” said Olette.

“What? After everything he’s done to mess with our lives, I’d say this is karma, that’s all.”

Roxas couldn’t deny that, he too, was feeling pretty good. His spirit soared higher, disconnecting itself from the rest, and he just basked in the moment, here in the sun with his friends. He felt something touching his hand, and, like if his body remembered something, he mechanically grabbed it.

The friend group then proceeded to talk about everything for a while. Roxas could have sworn he had seen Ventus blush at one point.

*********

Like it had become a habit, Roxas and Ven were chatting in their room, lights off, right before going to sleep. That day’s conversation was understandably focused on the events that happened earlier, with Ven gushing over the fight with Seifer. After a while, the conversation ran out, and it seemed like this was the moment to end the day. Until…

“Hey, Roxas.”

“Hmm?”

“Remember yesterday at the clock tower?”

“Yes?”

“No. Remember _everything_? All the time we spent together?” He paused slightly. “Isn’t our life great?”

Roxas took a moment to ponder and remember all their shared moments. Each of them was filled with pure joy (well, a few of them were also filled with the dread of nearly dying, but that’s a detail).

“It is.”

“And, you know, I was wondering if, maybe…” Ven’s voice wavered. “If maybe, you wanted it to be…” It was now only a murmur. “More?”

More? What did he mean? Did he think – was he thinking that he wasn’t doing enough? That’s absurd. Roxas couldn’t dream of someone better than him.

“Our life is perfect as it is, Ven.”

“Ah…” Ventus’s voice was all cracked, as if something was tightening his throat. “Of course. It’s fine. I understand. I don’t know what I expected.” He chuckled. It was fake and hollow. “It’s your choice to make in the end. It’s fine.”

Roxas didn’t understand at all what was going on. What was Ven talking about? What was making him sad? His mind struggled to make sense of the words he was hearing.

“…good night, Roxas.”

Roxas desperately wanted to say something, anything, but no word came out of his mouth, because the situation was so surrealist, it made so little sense. After a while, he resigned himself, and eventually fell asleep.

Ventus couldn’t sleep that night.


	5. The meaning of Love

“Morning, Ven,” whispered Roxas.

No answer. It looked like, as was usually the case, Roxas was the first one to wake up.

He rolled in his bed, and heard the noise of something light hitting the floor. Intrigued, he opened his eyes and straightened himself to look at what had fallen. And what he saw was that Ven’s mattress didn’t have anyone on it. Had he woken up early, and gotten downstairs?

Roxas looked at the time on his gummiphone: he had definitively slept longer than he usually did. He had hoped to use the first moments of the morning to have a private discussion with his friend about what troubled him, since he still couldn’t make sense of what happened last evening. Ah well, he’d do it the next time they were alone. For now it was time to join the others.

He got up and prepared himself, then went down the stairs to get to the living room. There he could see Xion, seemingly about to go outside.

“Morning, Xion!”

“Good morning, Roxas,” she answered. “How are you?”

“I’m fine, you? Also, where are you going? It’s not like you to leave in the morning like that.”

“I’m going to join Isa and Lea on the clock tower,” informed Xion. “Lea said we should go while you and Ven aren’t monopolizing the place.”

“We don’t –”

“Speaking of Ven, has he still not woken up? It’s starting to get kind of late.”

“I thought he had already gotten down here…” All traces of a good mood suddenly washed away on Roxas’s face.

“Do you mean he’s not with you?” Xion looked surprised.

“It’s – he’s probably just in the bathroom or something. I’ll go up and check. Don’t worry about it.”

“Are you sure? Well, if you need anything, you know where to find us.”

“Yeah. See you later!”

Roxas rushed upstairs. He went to his room to see if Ven had come back, and noticed something weird: all of Ventus’s belongings were gone. The only things left were the mattress, and a piece of paper near Roxas’s bed.

_A piece of paper?_

He then remembered that something had fallen when he woke up, so maybe it was on his bed at first. Was it a message left for him?

He took it. It was definitively a letter.

_Roxas,_

_Sorry for leaving so suddenly, but I needed some time alone. Don’t worry: nothing has changed between us. You’re still my best friend, and everything will stay like before. I just… need to properly digest what happened. I hope you can understand._

_See you soon,_

_Ven._

Roxas read it again.

_I just… need to properly digest what happened._

But what even happened? From the letter, it looked like it was expected that Roxas knew what Ven was talking about. But he had no idea! Was it something he did?

_It’s your choice to make in the end. It’s fine._

He remembered these words from yesterday, but what even was the choice? None of it made any sense. And since his friend wanted to spend some time alone, that meant he couldn’t just go and ask him. He was stuck there, without Ven, without knowing why and without being able to do anything about it.

Anxiety seized him. He needed to calm down and think clearly. Maybe he should just go at the clock tower with the others for the time being.

*********

“Oh, so you came?”

“Good morning, Roxas.”

“Hey there!”

Roxas was barely registering the greetings he was receiving from his friends. He let out a weak “Hi everyone,” before sitting down somewhere, not really aware of his surroundings. Everything was a blur.

Silence grew between them. Roxas’s friends could notice something was wrong with him, but none of them knew what to say. Eventually, Lea was the one to break the silence.

“So, fought with your boyfriend?”

“What do you mean, ‘boyfriend’?” answered Roxas, slightly irritated.

“Oh, come on! It’s obvious. _Everyone_ can see it! If you were somehow trying to keep this a secret, I can tell you that you were incredibly bad at it. All the looks that you exchange and the time you spend alone and all that blushing and gushing and – I mean, you even ostensibly held hands in front of everyone yesterday. At this point, you could as well have a big flashy neon sign saying ‘WE ARE TOGETHER’, it’d barely make a difference.”

“What? I’m just asking you what you meant by the word ‘boyfriend’.”

Lea was stunned for a few seconds. “Man, you don’t know? I’d have thought Ven would have told you, at the very least.”

“No, I don’t know! What does that even mean? What’s the difference with a regular friend?”

“Well you know, it’s not complicated. ‘Boyfriend’ is a word for a male partner, and ‘girlfriend’ for a female one. Simple as that.”

“’Partner’?”

“Yeah, you know, a person you’re in love with, and with whom you’re in couple.”

Seeing Roxas’s dumbfounded expression, Lea slowly started to realize.

“You… do know what love is, right?”

Roxas hesitated. “I take it that you are not talking about the kind of love we all have for the people we care about, but about the other thing people talk about when they say ‘love’, right? Well, the only things I know about this are what Xaldin told me, and…”

“Ok so, first order of business,” interrupted Lea, “is to forget what Xaldin told you about _anything_. Got it?”

“I… figured as much,” admitted Roxas.

“And second… so you really don’t know what romantic love is?”

“Oh, so that’s what it’s called. No, I don’t know.”

Lea’s voice lowered. “So you really aren’t…”

Xion politely interrupted. “I don’t know what romantic love is either. Would you care to explain, Lea?”

Lea seemed a bit lost. “It’s not that easy to explain…”

He looked around. “Could I have a bit of help, here?”

“Don’t think about it, Lea,” answered Isa. “You know as well as I do that I am not qualified for this type of situation.”

“Man, so it’s really all on me, huh?” He paused. “Ok, so listen closely you two, I don’t want to have that conversation again.”

Both Roxas and Xion became very attentive. Lea ensured they listened properly, then tried to think about where to begin.

“Well, you know,” he started, “it’s complicated to explain feelings with words. Plus love doesn’t exactly manifest itself the same way for different people, you know. And, in a lot of aspects, it’s pretty similar to a very close friendship.”

He paused to gather his thoughts. The two clueless youths who were listening to him seemed to follow so far. He then pursued. “Yet it’s not really the same, you know? I don’t know how to say it. What I’d want to tell is something like ‘You’ll know it when you’ll feel it,’ but that’s not exactly helpful.”

Lea paused again. Explaining this was as hard as he thought it’d be. “I guess that the difference is easier to perceive at the early stages of love, when you’re infatuated with the other. Once again, experiences may vary, but… usually, in that stage, there’ll be a desire. You’ll have a want, a need, to spend quality time with the other as much as you can, if you see what I mean. And it’s also about intimacy. You’ll want to be closer, emotionally, physically. It’s really all heightened at this stage…”

He paused yet again. He was managing to get somewhere, but it definitively was a struggle.

“I guess that a good way to distinguish a close friend from someone you’re infatuated with… Well, you know, if you do something embarrassing in front of a close friend, you wouldn’t mind that much, right? They’re a close friend. And sure, it may become a running joke later, but it’s all in good spirit.

“But if you do something embarrassing in front of someone you’re in love with? Especially if you’re not together yet? It’ll hurt a lot. You’ll want to be perfect in their eyes. And they will be perfect in yours. Generally, your self-consciousness will be heightened when you’re next to them. You may become anxious about everything. Every little act will matter. This part mellows out once you get together, but it’s pretty distinctive from friendship.”

But that was just a fleeting example. Lea needed more material to help the idea go through.

“You may also experience some kind of possessiveness. You’ll want them to be yours, and not anyone else’s. You’ll want as much of their time as you can get, you may get jealous if others get their attention. Once again, it’s not the same for everyone, but it’s often there. And letting that side unchecked is not really healthy for anyone. These feelings are normal, they are ok, but letting them control your life is not. Each person is entitled to have their personal space. It should be obvious, but sometimes it sadly needs to be said.”

He needed even more. What else could he talk about? Ah, right.

“There’s also a kind of commitment in love, you know? You’ll want to be with them for life. You’ll want to live with them, your lives to be intertwined. And, in the high of infatuation, where everything becomes so grand, there’ll be no doubt in your mind that it’ll be eternal. But the high of infatuation isn’t really sustainable long term. It _will_ eventually fade of. However, if your relationship is built on something solid? If you managed to see the other for what they really are without the rose-tainted glasses, if you accept them like that? If you gave yourselves healthy bases? Love will still tie you together, and the true relationship will stay.

“I guess what I mean to say is that love, in the end, is both the most solid and the most fragile of bonds. It will put you closer to a person than anything else could do, but the feeling is so great that it’s easy for things to become chaotic and to break, if you are not careful.”

Yeah, now he thought he had given a pretty good overview.

“Of course, I talked a lot about relationships here, but a relationship built on romantic love only happens if it’s requited, if both parties feel the same for one another. When it’s unrequited, friendship may continue like normal, or the pain of not being with the other may be so great that it’ll be difficult to keep being close. When love is strong, the pain of rejection is one of the harshest feelings there are. That’s why it can be so difficult for someone to confess about their feelings for another. The fear that it won’t be shared is enormous. People will usually prefer to get hints that the feelings are requited before taking the first step, and if the hint is not there, just spend more time in hope that eventually the other will feel the same.

“I’m… not sure if anything I said made any sense. It is really difficult to put these things into words. I probably didn’t explain correctly a lot of parts, and omitted a lot of information. But I hope it can help you grasp what love is. I can’t have been worse than Xaldin anyway.” He chuckled.

“Well, I think it does help me understand,” stated Xion. “It’s not really clear in my head what love truly is or feels like, but I think I can get a high-level overview of it now. I may just end up reading books about it to be sure I got everything you said right. Thanks Lea, it looks like it wasn’t easy.”

“It definitively wasn’t easy,” he grumbled. “I’m glad I could help at least. And you, Roxas. Did you get it? It was kind of for you that we started this conversation, after all.”

There was no answer.

“Err, Roxas?”

Roxas was deeply lost in thought. The words Lea said were slowly sinking into his mind. The meaning they were carrying seemed to resonate with something. It seemed familiar. But what really left an impression on his psyche, was when he was saying that the feeling of possessiveness was a natural part of it. It wasn’t completely wicked? It’s not unnatural? He wasn’t the only one feeling like this?

Maybe it was time to stop repressing what he felt about Ven. To let the emotions flood, and try to sort them out, try to figure out what they were about, instead of running away.

And they did flood. They came all at once. And the pieces of the puzzle _clicked_ together.

Lea’s words, the feelings… it was finally starting to make sense.

Roxas’s mind wandered. It voyaged through memories. He was reliving scenes from the past, but this time, he wasn’t lying to himself.

He remembered all the times Ven complimented him, for seemingly no reason. He remembered that hot, pulsing feeling each time this happened. He remembered his mind being overloaded, him struggling with words, looking ridiculous, with for only answer a laugh. Oh, but not mockery. One so pure, that was joy itself. One he could hear over and over.

He could see through his mind how _cute_ Ven was. Which is pretty ironic, since both of them had the same appearance. Yet it was not the same. It wasn’t just the looks, it was how you wore them. And Ven was always radiating. Pure sunshine. When you saw his facial expressions, it was impossible not to melt. Yet the others always seemed to maintain their composures around him. So maybe it was just him. Was it possible that…?

He remembered the first time they went to the restaurant together. Although this didn’t seem like anything special, he _felt_ something special. The shared, intimate time around a good meal… And the fact it was _Ven_ who wanted to come here. It was _Ven_ who insisted for both of them to share this time together. And that made him feel happy.

He couldn’t seem to have enough of Ventus. They spent so much time together, yet he felt like something was missing. He wanted them to be together forever, and in a more intimate way. It’s just like Lea described… everything was starting to fit.

He had repressed these feelings because they didn’t fit in his idea of friendship. But he realized it was because it was no longer just friendship. Roxas now had to admit it: he was in love with Ven. Madly.

But was his friend feeling the same? Sure, lately, Ven had been acting weirdly. He seemed to be shier and more easily flustered when he was around him. He who was so often taking the initiative on everything at the beginning of their friendship seemed to be more reserved and cautious. And the way he was always blushing when Roxas stared at him…

Could it be? Could it be possible that his feelings for Ven were requited? Or were all these signs just his brain seeing evidence where there wasn’t? Was Ven seeing him as just a friend? Or as more?

More…

_And, you know, I was wondering if, maybe… If maybe, you wanted it to be… More?_

“NO!”

“R-Roxas?”

“I MADE A HUGE MISTAKE, I –”

“Calm down, Roxas,” interrupted Lea. “Breathe. Keep your calm. Breathe again. There. Now speak.”

“I messed up everything.”

“What do you mean?” asked Xion.

“I shut Ven down. Accidentally. I didn’t even understand.” Despite trying to be calm, Roxas was still speaking with a short breath.

“Oh…” answered Lea. “So _that_ would explain what’s going on.”

“And he told me he wanted to be alone so I can’t just go tell him and I don’t know how long it’ll last and I don’t even know where he is anyway and and and what do I do? What do I even do now?”

“Maybe you could tell him in a text?” proposed Xion.

“Now Xion,” declared Lea, “I know you’re new to all of this, but I think it’d kinda be in poor taste if…”

“Actually,” said Roxas, “it might be a good idea.”

“Roxas!”

“I could text him saying that we need to meet.”

“Oh, that. Yeah, that could work.”

“I’ll do it right now, actually. Thank you guys for having helped. See you later!”

He left the clock tower.

“How come you get part of the credit?” complained Lea to the others once Roxas was out of earshot. “I did everything here!”

*********

_I’ll do it right now, actually._

Right.

It had been two hours since Roxas came back in his room, trying to find a good wording, but nothing that came to his mind was even just decent. Anything he could think of seemed insensitive or hollow or selfish. He had written and erased a possible message far more than he cared to count, and now just seemed paralyzed. But the longer he waited, the longer Ven would suffer. He _had_ to act now.

Taking all the courage he had, he started to write something on his phone.

_Hey Ven,_

_Sorry for messaging you like that, I know you said you wanted to be alone. But… I made a huge mistake. Could we talk? It doesn’t have to be long._

It was pretty generic, but generic was probably the best he could do right now. Now he just had to send it.

Just had to send it.

It now had been 5 minutes since he wrote it. He just had to press the send button. But thoughts were racing in his head. What if Ven didn’t appreciate Roxas trying to talk to him when he said he wanted to be alone? What if his friend became mad at him? What if he ruined everything even more than he already did?

But not doing anything was pretty bad too. He had to do something, for better or for worse. He had to. He had to.

Roxas closed his eyes, and pressed the send button. Then he threw the phone away, afraid of the possible answer. He tried to breathe. He tried to calm down. He tried to shake off the guilt that was dragging him down. That nagging feeling in his head that kept telling him it was all his fault. Could it stop? He was trying to fix that!

He heard his phone vibrate. His heart was pounding in his chest. His hands shaking with apprehension, he managed to get himself to take the phone, and look at what he received.

_Sure. I’m at the hill where we often stargaze, at the Land of Departure. You can come._

*********

Roxas stepped out of a corridor of darkness and arrived on the hill. From there, you could see the castle. But, more importantly, you could see Ven, sat at the top.

Roxas slowly joined him, and sat right at his left. He removed the coat he took to cross the corridor, to make the atmosphere slightly more comfortable. He tried to look calm, but it was impossible to dissimulate the distress on his face.

“Roxas…” a voice faintly said at his right. “What’s wrong?” Ven’s face was full of worry and empathy.

_And of light…_

“I… I’m not sure where to start,” answered Roxas.

Ventus passed an arm around his shoulders. “Start anywhere,” he said. “I’ll be there for you.”

“So… I… you see…” The words seemed to be stuck in Roxas’s throat. “Ok, ok, let’s just start there. Earlier this morning, I went to see Lea, Isa and Xion at the top of the clock tower. And then I… Well, you know how I used to be a Nobody, and all that? So, I was clueless about some things, and Lea had fill me in… Anyway, err, in the end, I ended up learning what love was.”

Ven’s eyes widened.

“And, you know, I realized that maybe, just maybe, there had been some misunderstandings because of that. And, and…”

And then Roxas’s mind shut down.

Whatever was left of his consciousness tried to tie together the scraps of what just happened. Ven moving. Arms wrapping themselves around him. Lips being pressed against his. And it just felt… _fantastic…_

Ven pulled away, but he stayed close, his arms still wrapped around Roxas, his eyes directly gazing in the other’s.

“I love you, Roxas.”

Slowly, Roxas’s mind managed to pull itself back together. And eventually, he managed to speak.

“I love you, Ventus.”

It all felt long overdue. And Ven’s huge grin was just _radiant_ …

Roxas wrapped his own arms around Ven, tying themselves closer together.

“Can we huh, can we do that again?” he murmured.

And then they kissed. Words cannot describe how Roxas felt. All that could be said is that it was like things were finally as they should be. At their rightful place.

They parted, and their happiness was overflowing. Then Roxas pulled Ven closer, and they stayed like that, enlaced, basking in each other’s warmth, for several minutes. It could have been forever.

They eventually let go, and got back at being sat right next of the other, only closer this time. Ven grabbed Roxas’s hand, who was quite willing to let it happen.

“I’m sorry, Ven. I never wanted to hurt you like that.”

“No, _I’m_ sorry, Roxas. I should have realized that what I thought was obvious and common knowledge wasn’t necessarily the case. I know about you, yet the thought hadn’t crossed my mind. I failed you.”

“Nonsense. The only thing you have failed is in convincing me that sea-salt ice cream isn’t the best flavor of ice cream.”

They laughed.

“So…” started Roxas. “I guess we’re together now?”

“Looks like it,” answered Ven. “You’re my boyfriend now, Roxas.” He grimaced a bit. “Actually, Roxas always sounded a bit too formal. Can I call you Rox?”

Roxas took a few seconds to think about it, then leaned closer. “Just you.”

“Okay, Rox. I love you.”

“Love you too.”


	6. New Life

Warmth.

That was what Roxas woke up to: warmth. The warmth of a being that he cared about immensely, which was right next to him. Almost made you want to never leave the bed.

He remembered the previous day, the most stressful and the most amazing day of his life. He remembered their first kiss. He remembered that afterwards he warned his friends he’d not come back for the day, and stayed at the Land of Departure with the one he loved, doing nothing, just enjoying each other’s presence. And then, at the end of the day, they went to bed and slept. Only this time, it was the same bed.

It wasn’t that comfortable because Ven’s bed was clearly only made for one person, but they still managed to fit, and the warmth of each other was worth the price to pay.

“Morning, Rox,” came from a very sleepy voice.

Did they both wake up at the same time? Or did Roxas accidentally move too much? It didn’t really matter now anyway.

He looked at Ven. Looks like he hadn’t even opened his eyes. Silly. However, his face was adorable, too adorable to be left as is, so Roxas gently kissed his forehead.

“Morning, Ven,” he then said.

A smile appeared on Ventus’s face. And that was the only thing Roxas could ask for.

He then carefully got up and left to prepare himself for the day. When he returned, Ven had gotten up and seemed mostly ready, if still a bit sleepy.

“So, how are you?” asked Ven.

“Couldn’t be better.”

“Yeah, same.”

They both sat down; Ventus on his bed, his boyfriend on the desk’s chair.

“So, what do we do now?” asked Roxas.

“Well, you know, I have been thinking about how we should announce the news to everyone.”

“We don’t really have to worry about that now.”

“Actually, we do. From what you said, Lea, Xion and Isa are aware now, right? I don’t trust them to keep it to themselves forever.”

“You’re… not wrong.”

They paused for a few moments to take time to think.

“I can already see the looks on Aqua’s and Terra’s faces,” said an amused Ventus.

“They may already know. They see us a lot, they could have deduced like Lea.”

“Nah, not a chance. They…”

Ven started to pout. “I think that on some points they still view me as the kid they took in years ago.”

Roxas started laughing.

“What’s so funny??” asked an irritated voice.

“Nothing, it’s just – you are looking so _adorable_ right now.”

“You’re not helping!”

“Aw, you don’t like your boyfriend finding you cute?”

“If the love of my life could not totally undercut my grievances while doing so, it’d be even better!”

“Sorry Ven, there are things that cannot be helped.”

Ventus mumbled some incoherent babble, then took a second to calm down.

“If you’re feeling so smart today, then you come up with the strategy.”

“‘Strategy’? I think you’re overthinking this way too much. In a few moments, we will be given our mission assignments, but it’s also going to be the monthly briefing, so everyone will be at Master Yen Sid’s tower. We just have to announce it there, and it’s done.”

“What? Just like that? In front of everyone? That’s – actually, that can work. I’d just add a little tweak…”

*********

“…and I hope your assignments are clear and fully understood.”

“Yes, Master,” answered two blond boys.

“Now then, this should conclude our reunion. It is important for us to be all together like this from time to time, to help the cohesion of our group, and to strengthen the connections between our hearts. Roxas, Ventus, you may take your leave and start your missions. As for the others, stay alert, and prepare yourself for when we will require your help.”

“Err, Master Yen Sid?”

“What is it, Roxas?”

“It has been quite a while since the, uhm, blunder. So, I was wondering if we could be given another chance at doing missions together, me and Ven?”

“It is true that time has passed. We will consider your request the next time we will elaborate the schedule. But, in the meantime, you have missions who await you.”

“Right. Thank you Master. We will be on our way.”

Both teens walked to the door and were about to leave. Ven took a last look behind. Their friends were really all here: Terra, Aqua, Sora, Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, Mickey, Lea, Isa, Xion… even Naminé, who, while not doing any missions, was still present in their monthly meetings.

“By the way,” he said, just before closing the door, “Roxas is my boyfriend now. Bye!”

The blond-haired boys then left for their missions. Silence shortly filled the room they had occupied.

“WHAT?”

*********

Roxas had just arrived in front of the Tower. He had finished today’s mission in record time: he wasn’t going to toss his free time away when they had barely gotten together. Now he just had to wait for Ven near the door, and hope he wouldn’t take too long.

“Hi Rox,” said a familiar voice.

Roxas turned around, and saw him, casually leaning against the stone wall.

“You’ve already arrived?” asked a surprised Roxas. “Aw, that’s not fair! I did everything in record time, so that I would finish before you and be the one to welcome you.”

“Well then, you blew it! I’ve been waiting for three whole hours. Man, you’re slow!”

Ventus then laughed at Roxas’s look of disbelief.

“Just kidding, I arrived a few minutes ago. So, how did it go?”

“Pretty well, no real difficulty. Maybe we should just go debrief so we don’t have to repeat ourselves one thousand times?”

Ven chuckled. “You’re right.”

They then proceeded to the top of the Tower.

“…then we should watch this new development with the utmost attention. I am grateful that you shared this information with me, Master Aqua.”

When Roxas opened the door, he could see Yen Sid and Aqua having a discussion. Terra was also present.

“Ah, and I see our two young Keyblade wielders have already returned from their missions,” pursued Yen Sid.

“Ven! Roxas! You’re back early today,” said Aqua.

“Well”, answered Ven, his hands behind his head in that so familiar position, “there were things to look forward to.”

“Yeah,” simply added Roxas.

“Speaking of that…” started Aqua.

“Err, maybe we should debrief first?” interrupted Ven.

Yen Sid nodded, and then the two boys described how their respective missions went.

“So, if I understood correctly, the source of the darkness on the world you visited was indeed a small Heartless infestation that you were able to clean, correct, Roxas?” asked Aqua.

“Yeah.”

“And you Ven, the source of the troubles on that world came from a group of Dusks that went astray without the Organization to guide them.”

“At least, that’s what I think. I’m not in their heads.”

“Right.”

“Very well then,” stated Yen Sid. “You are liberated for the day. I look forward to see you again for your next assignments.”

The teens bowed slightly, and then left the room.

Aqua followed them.

“Don’t you think you can escape like that, Ven!”

The boy in question stopped a turned around and put a single hand behind his head, his expression reading a mix of amusement and light embarrassment.

“Hey Aqua, how is it –”

“For how long have you hidden this to us?”

Terra had now joined them.

“It literally happened yesterday, give us a break,” answered Ventus.

“Yesterday? That’s not what Lea’s been saying. You should’ve seen him, acting so smug right after you left. ‘What, with all the time you spend with them, you didn’t notice? Man, you’re slow. It’s been going on forever, and it was _incredibly_ obvious.’”

“Well, it’s true that we’ve been pining for each other for quite a while…”

Ven turned towards Roxas.

“But we’ve been kinda stuck because this dumbhead didn’t know what love was” he added, while ruffling Roxas’s hair.

“Watch what you’re saying!” answered the other blond, while swatting Ven’s arm away.

They both chuckled. Terra looked pretty amused too, and Aqua’s stern expression morphed into a soft smile.

“You two do look adorable together,” she admitted. “Still, I can’t say I wasn’t surprised.”

Roxas laughed.

“What’s so funny?” she asked.

“Looks like Ven was right after all.”

“Hey Rox, that was supposed to stay private!”

“Alright, alright, I’m not telling more.”

“What is the meaning of this, Ven?” asked Aqua.

“Hey now, what are we, the Inquisition? How about we give them some space?” proposed Terra.

“Fine, fine,” she answered. “But be careful, you,” she added, facing Roxas. “if I’m hearing of anything wrong happening to Ven…”

“Actually, there’s something wrong,” stated Ventus. “My bed is kinda small for two persons. Besides that, everything’s cool.”

Aqua looked incredulous.

“Anyway, that was it, we’re going to hang out in Twilight Town for a bit. Give me a call if you need anything. See you later!”

And the teens left.

*********

The sunset was a beautiful sight. And sure, it always was beautiful. But on that day, it was particularly amazing. The beauty of that sunset eclipsed the one of everything that preceded. It’s not like it was different from other ones. But it was better, incredibly better, in the mind of the two blond-haired boys watching it at the top of the Clock Tower.

“What a sight…” commented Ventus.

“Yeah. It’s breathtaking,” answered the one sat at his left.

“We’ve been here plenty of times, watching this eternal sunset. But it’s only today that I can fully realize its beauty. I wonder what took me so long.”

“I think you know the answer,” teased Roxas.

Ven tightened his grip on Roxas’s hand.

“I… may have been distracted by thoughts about how to ask out the coolest person in the World, I admit. Hard to focus on anything with that in your head.”

“Huh? Why would you ask yourself out?”

Ventus chuckled.

“Come on…” he said, unable to repress a big smile. “If you continue in this direction, I may think that you like me or something like that.”

“I guess that I should stop then, because if you think I’m just _liking_ you this won’t do.”

Yeah, Roxas wasn’t merely liking Ven. He was experiencing this impossible feeling, one that didn’t feel like it should be able to exist. But he was glad it did, and wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

He was also glad that his words had the effect he hoped for. He could see his boyfriend stop for a few seconds, blinking, taking time to fully process. Rose marks started to appear on Ven’s cheeks.

“If you’re not just liking me, Rox, then what?” he asked, in a voice lower than normal.

“Well, if I am forced to reduce it to mere words… I love you. A lot. More than you can imagine.”

“Ha! Good one. More than I can imagine? Do you seriously think that? I know what I feel for you, and I don’t think that’s quite beatable.”

“You’d be surprised.”

“I, indeed, would be. There’s no chance.”

Roxas knew how wrong that sentence was, but he let it slide. Some misconceptions are too deep-rooted to be unseated like that. He instead chose to lean closer to the most special person of his life.

“You know,” he stated, “it’s a bit hard to watch the sun like this.”

“Huh? Is it too bright for you? Since you come here so often, I thought there was no problem…”

“Don’t worry, it’s not that. It’s just that, it kinda is eclipsed by a much brighter star right next to me.”

Another silence. Roxas had quickly found out that Ven was easily flustered by that kind of comment, and didn’t lose any opportunity to sneak one in.

And besides, it’s not like he was exaggerating. Just one quick look could confirm his sayings, just one glance at that soft, sweet smile could make waver even the coldest heart, just one sighting at the sparkling in those eyes could shatter any animosity, just hearing his melodious voice could grab the full attention of even the most determined of minds.

“Roxas… if you keep going like this, I am just going to melt like all the sea-salt ice cream you have eaten.”

“Will you? Well then, before you do…”

He quickly stole Ventus’s lips, and the marks on Ven’s cheeks suddenly became more visible.

“Okay, now I am definitively melting. It was nice knowing you, fareweeeeell,” declared an overdramatic Ven, while slowly lowering himself, to eventually rest his head on Roxas’s lap.

_How is he managing to be so adorable? What’s his secret?_

Roxas absent-mindedly started to play with his boyfriend’s hair, and both settled in this situation for quite a while.

“So, what should we do next?” he eventually asked, breaking the silence.

“Don’t worry about anything. I’ve got it covered,” confidently answered Ven.

“Oh? What are you planning for?”

“Hehehehe… you’ll see. I want our first big date after getting together to be as perfect as possible. I have been working very hard on the preparations, but I will settle on nothing else but the best for my boyfriend.”

Roxas’s heartbeat accelerated.

“All that… for me?”

“For who else, you dummy?”

Ven straightened, and kissed Roxas on the cheek. “There’s one person that I love.”

Roxas could feel himself grinning like the biggest idiot in the World. Of course that Ven would do something crazy like that. It was just how he was, and that’s what made him so perfect. Did he mention that he loved him?

“Well, that person is the luckiest person in the world.”

“Err, you’re getting it all wrong, Rox. I’m not a narcissist.”

“What? But I – oh. I see. You can be so cheesy sometimes.”

“Like you’re one to talk.”

They laughed. And in this instant together, in this communion, two beings shared one ultimate happiness, infinite and overflowing. Or at least that’s how it felt. What was definitively certain however, was how cute Ven’s laugh was. Roxas was pretty sure that if the best scientists of the World elaborated a machine evaluating the cuteness of each thing that existed, his boyfriend’s laugh would just cause it to explode because its cuteness was incalculable.

“You know,” started Ventus, “I’m really glad to be able to be with you, like that. Just spending time together in one place, laughing at dumb stuff, enjoying each other’s presence. I’m really glad to have my biggest worry being whether what I have planned for you is worthy enough of being my big gift to the love of my life.”

“I get what you are saying.”

“Yeah… not having to worry about wars, or the safety of our friends. Simply being able to enjoy ourselves. That is a gift in itself, probably the most precious one that can exist. Things like that… it’s only when you start to lose them that you realize how important they truly are.”

“I’ll have to disagree with you there, Ven.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t have to lose you to realize how important you truly are.”

Ven smiled despite him. “Come on, I was trying to have a serious moment for a second.”

“I am dead serious. We may get used to peace, yes. And we may not realize how precious it is unless it is threatened or lost, I agree. But our loved ones? Do you really think we can lose sight of their importance?”

“…you may have a point here. The connections we all have… they will always remind us of how much we value the others.”

“Exactly.”

“So, the connection we have together… what does it tell us?”

“It tells us that you are the best thing that could possibly have happened to me.”

“And _you_ are the best thing that could possibly have happened to _me_.”

And then, in the basking light of the sunset, the two of them shared a long kiss together. And Roxas stood by his previous words: he was the luckiest man of the World.

They parted and looked tenderly at each other.

“It’s starting to get late,” remarked Ven. “The others are probably waiting for us.”

“You’re right, let’s go home.”

*********

“…and it was just so annoying, you know? It was all gluey and it stuck to you. That made exploring the area _very_ uncomfortable.”

They were all present in the living room, listening to Lea rambling about his latest mission. Of course, Roxas and Ventus were seated in the same couch, right next to each other.

“And the worst thing is, the infestation wasn’t even there. After I was pretty deep in, Kairi contacted me and said the source was in a sunk ship on the nearby beach. I went through all that trouble for absolutely nothing. Can you believe it? I cannot describe how mad I was at that moment.”

The mental picture of a mad Lea bogged down in a gluey substance was incredibly funny to Roxas.

“What? Maybe Rox there would have better handled the situation?” asked an irritated red-haired man.

Now it was Ven’s turn to laugh tremendously.

“What’s so funny??”

“Well,” explained Ven, “it’s just astounding how little regard you have for your own well-being.”

“What do you mean by… that…”

Lea just noticed the death glare that was directed to him by his blond best friend.

“I thought,” he started, “that we agreed long ago to not call me that.”

“Yeah, but that was then, and this is now! Before, you didn’t like it, and I was like fine, I won’t use it. But now, you do seem to not mind its usage, so I’m getting on with the times, you see?”

“Lea, I’m afraid that this is an exclusive deal for me,” stated a very amused Ven. “Also, I decline all responsibility for what is going to happen if you keep pushing in that direction.”

“Come on, we can’t have a little fun every now and then?”

Roxas didn’t grace this sentence with an answer.

“Fine, fine, I get it. Killjoy…”

Ven giggled some more and rested his head on Roxas’s shoulder.

“Argh, and you two keep being insufferable together,” continued a frustrated Lea. “Can’t believe I had a role to play in it. But it’s fine, it’s fine, let’s just get back to the important stuff, my story. Now where was I…”

And then they kept telling stories to each other until well in the night, at which point they all went to bed to prepare themselves for the next day. Which, Ven hoped, would be the most amazing day ever.


	7. Together

“I knew I’d find you here.”

Roxas was taken out of his numbness by a very familiar voice.

_Familiar because you have heard it all your life…_

“What’s wrong?” asked Ven, while sitting down next to his boyfriend on the ledge of the clock tower. “Weren’t we supposed to wait for each other at the Tower?”

“It’s just… well, you were taking a while,” croaked the other blond boy.

“I sure did. The inhabitants of the world I went to made a simple mission far more complicated than necessary. But that’s a story for another time. You’re not a very good liar, Roxas.”

“W-what?”

“Even if I was absolutely blind and deaf and wasn’t able to notice that you clearly are not well, are you going to make me believe that you’d stop waiting for me without warning me in the sole goal of being alone with nothing to do, but elsewhere?”

Ventus was now intensely staring at Roxas, who kept avoiding his look.

“You got me,” was the only answer.

“Come on Rox, why won’t you tell me?” pleaded Ven.

“It’s just… it’s really stupid, that’s all.”

“I’m knowledgeable on stupid, don’t worry about that. Besides, it’s hurting you. If it can harm you, it may be stupid, but it’s serious.”

Roxas stood silent for a while, before eventually answering, looking away.

“I… It’s about you and me.”

“What about it?” cautiously asked Ven.

“You know, now that it’s beginning to become known that we are together… There are starting to be comments, you see?”

“About what?”

“The obvious.”

“…oh.”

Ven understood what was going on. Roxas had spent the major part of his life trying to define himself, and he knew it still wasn’t easy for him, so if people were giving him snark about things like “Hey Roxas! How does it feel to be your own boyfriend?” then… yeah.

“And now, because of these dumb comments…” pursued Roxas. “It’s starting again, you know? The questioning in my head. Everyone is throwing back at me how little I am myself. Everything about me is borrowed. Anyone just has to look at us, and they’ll see it. They’ll see I’m just…”

“Roxas. It's not how you look like, or how you were born, or why you were created, or even how people feel about you that define you. What defines you is what you do. And you've made your own choices, your own actions; they definitely make you your own person, no matter what anybody thinks.”

There was a slight pause, then Ven lowered his voice and got closer to Roxas.

“And, if you want my personal opinion, they make you a rather cool person.”

Roxas’s heartbeat accelerated.

“I really like you, Roxas. And by you, I mean _you_.”

Roxas turned around, finally facing Ven for the first time in their conversation.

“...I really like you too, Ven.”

And they embraced each other. Ven truly was amazing. And that was exactly why…

Roxas backed away. “But that’s exactly why,” he stated. “I told you it was about something stupid, didn’t I? I’m already realizing, thanks to you, Lea, Xion, everyone, that all these worries are not true, that I am myself. And still, that easily, I was dragged down into them… I don’t want my problems to affect you, Ven. I don’t want my stupid issues to come in the way of our relationship.”

“It’s fine Roxas. It’s fine. I’d not trade you away for anything, let alone just to avoid a bunch of stupid comments.”

“I know you wouldn’t. But I don’t want this to hurt you. I’d like to be able to just enjoy being with you without this hanging over my head. I’d really want that we can be together without my issues dragging us down…”

“Dragging us down? Roxas. Don’t blame yourself over stuff you don’t have control of.”

“But…”

“Look. Your past isn’t going to disappear like that with no scars. I know that too well. And I’m not expecting you to just will it away and then to have everything fine in the world. Yes, it hurts me to see you hurt. But you’re not dragging us down, Roxas. The joy you bring is infinitely higher than the pain. You are not dragging me down, you are lifting me up, in places I didn’t believe could exist.”

“I…”

“So, next time something hurts you, even if it’s ‘stupid’, don’t run away from me, ok? What’s really awful is having you away, hurting, and me unable to know why.”

Roxas sighed. “I get it, Ven. But it’s not easy. It’s not easy feeling like I’m taking away…”

“But you are bringing so much more!”

Ventus offered the most radiant smile.

“I just don’t like being the dysfunctional one in our relationship,” finally explained Roxas.

“I – what? If anything, you are the cool one.”

“I’m the one with issues that need to be taken care of.”

“But –”

Ven sighed. Roxas was being very stubborn, and there seemed like there was no way he could convince him that no, having to deal with what he had to deal wasn’t an “issue” in their relationship that made him bad, that it was pretty natural and everyone is understanding and accepting, that this wasn’t putting Ven in a situation where he felt like he had to be a caretaker for Roxas, that if anything he was just glad to be able to help him overcome his problems because he cared so much about him.

Maybe a new strategy was necessary.

“Roxas. What I’m about to tell you, I haven’t talked about it with anyone else. Not even Terra and Aqua. I want your word that this isn’t leaving the two of us.”

Roxas was clearly taken aback by this turn of events.

“Uhm, okay?” he answered.

“Good. You know about my lost memories, right? The fact I don’t remember anything from before Xehanort took me in. And the only thing I have from back then is Chirithy.”

“Yeah, I know…”

“Well, that’s not true.”

“…What?”

“The fact that I know Chirithy actually isn’t the only thing I remember from back then.”

“But –”

“Don’t get me wrong: I still don’t have any real memory of it. If I had any concrete information, I’d have talked about it, since it might be useful. But I have some… feelings. Slowly, my mind started to remember some of the things I felt at that time. I still don’t really have anything, just bits and pieces, but I don’t have nothing either.”

He took a deep breath.

“I remember being alone. Being alone for a long time. Not really having anyone. I remember dread. I remember learning about harsh truths. And I remember death. Death and destruction, on a massive scale.”

Just talking about it was incredibly painful.

“And then, I remember getting friends. Great, right? But I didn’t fit in. I knew I didn’t fit in, there was something wrong about it. And eventually, I was told the truth. I didn’t fit in. It was an accident. Like someone like me would…”

He stopped a bit. He was getting more anxious. His breath accelerated, and his voice stopped being steady.

“I remember… dust. I remember… a dark room. And there was someone else there. And they were pleading… something terrible happened. I don’t know what, but in my guts, I just know I am involved somehow.”

Tears were starting to appear at the corner of his eyes.

“And in the end, I just have this… these feelings… and they make me sick… but what’s really terrible, is that they are all hinting to something really important. I feel – no, I know that it is really crucial for me to remember the full extent of what happened. It’s really important. And not just for me, there is something critical, it’s all critical, and I need to remember, I need to, but I can’t, of course I can’t, because –”

Ven started to cry, and hugged Roxas tight, throwing his head on his shoulder.

“Because I am a failure! I am a failure, just like I was back then. That’s the thing I remember most of all. I was the greatest, most terrific failure. And it looks like I always will be.”

Roxas didn’t answer, and just hugged his boyfriend back, embracing him as tightly as he could. He waited like that, without saying a word, letting him evacuate and calm down. The comforting warmth of his love slowly helped Ventus come back to his senses, and eventually, after an eternity, the tears stopped coming out, and he straightened up.

“Ventus,” said Roxas. “I only have one thing to ask you: follow your own damn advice.”

A few seconds of silence ensued, before they were cut by hysterical laughter from Ven.

“I really am an idiot, am I not?” he eventually stated, after calming down. “I am asking you to talk, but I keep everything bottled up inside. That’s really funny, isn’t it? And not really surprising, in the end. After all…”

“Shut up. You’re not a failure. And if anyone told you that, I am going to personally beat them up.”

Ven chuckled.

“But seriously,” pursued Roxas, “it’s possible that you messed up at some points. But right now? You’re one of the guardians of light, that contributed to saving the world. You even contributed to saving the world twice, considering the part you played in destroying the χ-blade the first time. And it’s not just that, you’re globally just an amazing person being around. Look at all these persons who think highly of you! Are you going to tell me you don’t fit with Terra and Aqua? And… wait. Is – is that how I sounded a few minutes ago?”

“Yes.”

It was Roxas’s turn to laugh.

“Wow, okay, I understand why you might have been frustrated. Anyway, to be short, you’re amazing, and that’s all.”

“Thanks Rox. But remember, you’re even more amazing.”

“I think you got us mixed up.”

Once again, Ven chuckled.

“Anyway,” he said, “I guess that from now on no more keeping things for ourselves, huh? Let’s not reproduce what happened today.”

“Agreed.”

Roxas then noticed that Ventus seemed to think about something.

“Hm, Ven?”

“I was wondering… no, let’s still do it. Let’s not end today on a bittersweet note.”

“Huh?”

Ven sported a huge grin.

“I told you that I was working very hard on preparing our first big date together, didn’t I?”

*********

Roxas had to admit: the beauty of this world was breathtaking. The vegetation was luxuriant but not suffocating, the forest extended forever while not hiding the beautiful sky, everything was of a vibrant green and even the grass looked gorgeous.

And the place was so peaceful, the air so pure. He felt like he could stay there forever and have the small breeze take away whatever worries he had, letting him to simply admire where he was. To just look at the squirrel travelling from tree to tree, listen to the melodious song produced by birds of incredible appearance and variety, notice the ladybug climbing on the tallest blade of grass of the area, observe the amazingly colorful flight of butterflies that was happening right next to him.

“So, what do you think?” asked Ventus.

Roxas took a few seconds. “It’s –”

“Save your saliva for later,” teased the other boy. “We’re not even at our destination yet. Follow me.”

And so he followed Ven through the forest. Never had he thought that mere plants could be so beautiful, but here they were. The place had to have some kind of magic to be able to create such an atmosphere, it didn’t look like something that was naturally achievable.

They passed by a couple of birds building a nest, a few rabbits running away when they noticed the much larger creatures nearby, a small lake that looked fantastic by reflecting the orange tint of the sky, rushing waters that were so clear and which sound was incredibly soothing, and other wonders of nature.

“We’re nearly there now. Close your eyes.”

Roxas did as instructed and let the hand of his partner guide him. After a few instants, they stopped, and he was instructed to open his eyes and look.

And Ven was right. He had seen nothing.

A gigantic, open field of light pink flowers was unraveling below his eyes. Their magnificence was heightened by the beautiful sunset, which was finally visible now that there were no visible trees in front of them. And, as they were at the top of a small hill, the height really gave a new perspective to the place, and allowed them to truly appreciate the splendor of the field basked in orange and red light.

“It’s… wonderful…” muttered Roxas.

“Yeah,” simply answered his companion. “Probably the second most beautiful thing in the World, right behind you.”

“Make it the third, then, because it seems like you forgot the number one spot.”

Ven lightly chuckled.

“I can’t forget the number one spot when he’s right next to me.”

Once again, Ven had it all wrong. Roxas could see the sweetness of that smile, he could see the sun reflecting himself in those beautiful eyes, he could see the overall radiance of his face, he could see him being absolutely _ethereal_ …

“So, what’s the next step?” he asked.

“Let’s just lie down and breathe.”

And so they lied down, hand in hand, closed their eyes, and enjoyed their moment together. And at that instant, Roxas was really, really glad that they were still doing this despite what happened earlier, because the sheer awesomeness of the moment could probably blow everything away.

The blond teen didn’t know how much time they spent like this. It could have been a few minutes, it could have been an hour. But his mind was really, truly at peace, and disconnected from everything else. And honestly, it was feeling pretty good. He was feeling so comfortable that he wouldn’t have been surprised if he actually fell asleep at some point.

He was brought back to reality by a gentle kiss on his forehead. He slowly opened his eyes, and put himself back in a sitting position. The sun was nearly behind the horizon now, and the sky was illuminated with a deep red, which made the light pink of the flowers even more visible.

The gentle breeze that had been with them since they had set foot on the world became slightly more intense, now faintly agitating their hair. Roxas could feel a gush of wind arriving in the valley below, flattening some flowers… to create the shape of a heart in the field.

“Ven, don’t you think it might be a bit too much?”

“Actually,” answered the other teen on a confidential tone, “maybe I am not doing enough.”

“Huh?”

Roxas turned his head to look at his partner, and noticed a small, red box in his hands.

“It’s for you,” said Ven while giving the box to his love.

Roxas took it, and his heart raced. Today was really too much.

He opened his gift and looked inside to see a pendant. He took it, and attached to the chain was a small, golden object. Its top was circle shaped, but only half of one, and small rays were leaving from it from all directions. Its bottom was a solid rectangle. It was a setting sun. (Or was it rising?)

Roxas sighed. “You’re really annoying, Ven.”

“H-huh?”

“How am I going to top _all of that_ now?”

Ven laughed. “I told you, I wanted to make this as perfect as possible.”

“I guess you win for now. But don’t misunderstand me: I am going to claim your crown of the best date, and you will never get it back.”

“If you can manage it, I’d very much like that.”

“You dare underestimate my power?”

“Well, if you feel like _this_ is hard to top, I wonder how you’ll fare against my even better idea…”

“You – you have something even better than this?”

“Of course! Imagine if we had reached the top _now_? That’d be bo-ring.”

Ven giggled from the shocked expression on Roxas’s face.

“Anyway,” he stated once calmed down, but still with a huge grin on his face, “I guess all of this is just a convoluted way for me to tell you: I love you, Roxas.”

“…I love you, Ventus.”

Ven then pulled Roxas closer and kissed him, and Roxas was more than willing to let that happen.

“Can you imagine that there was a life before we were together?” he asked, after their lips parted.

“Come on Rox, it was like a few days ago?” chuckled Ven.

“I mean, yeah, but imagining it, it feels like there’s something missing.”

“Heh. You’re not wrong.”

Silence then installed itself. Sometimes, words are not necessary to convey meaning. Just sitting together, holding hands, enjoying a beautiful sight… that was enough. That was more than enough. That was _everything_.

The shade of red in the sky became even darker, and slowly started being replaced by a bluish tint. Roxas turned around to look at Ven. He was looking so happy, so peaceful. He was looking… so cute. So _irresistible._ He couldn’t resist. He leaned closer, and –

“Hey Ven! So, what do you think?”

Roxas was shocked that another person was present. He could notice, however, that Ven was simply irritated to see them here.

“Oh,” said the newcomer, “I’m sorry, uhm, I didn’t think it was –”

“Sora,” firmly stated Ven. “ _Why else_ did you think I would ask you about the most beautiful world you ever visited?”

“Well huh you know I thought you just wanted to visit a really nice place? This whole situation is pretty new you know, I guess it didn’t fully register in my mind and huh, I suppose I’m just going to give you guys some intimacy now. See you later!”

Sora left, and Roxas had a hard time not laughing at the situation, partly because it was just hilarious, but mainly because Ven was _so cute_ when he was angry like that. Don’t get him wrong, Ven could be terrifying when he was truly mad, but when he only was slightly irritated from something a friend did? He was _adorable_.

“How to ruin a perfect date in one step: involve Sora,” Ventus mumbled.

That was the final straw, and Roxas could not help but to let out a chuckle.

“Funny to see me fail?” a still irritated Ven asked.

“Funny to see you so cute,” whispered Roxas.

He leaned in and resumed the interrupted business. It felt so good.

And on that moment, Roxas’s heart was filled with absolute certainty: whatever his life would become in the future, it was impossible for it not to involve Ventus. Because Ven was simply the most amazing person in his life. Because he loved Ven. Because Ven loved him. They would be together, always.

What a wonderful thing it was, to have learned the meaning of love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of the story! I hope you enjoyed it. :)  
> I am glad I was able to contribute some rokuven, seeing how little there is.
> 
> Also, if you are interested, there is an additional story retelling the events of chapters 4 and 5 from the point of view of Ven.  
> It is called "The meaning of Love: Another side, another story" and is available [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24329560).
> 
> See you later, and thank you for having read this story until its end!


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